Watchdog urges ID checks at polling stations

All voters should be required to show proof of identity when they turn up at a polling station before they can cast their vote, the official UK elections watchdog has said.

The Electoral Commission has called for a further tightening of the rules in areas including Bradford in an attempt to stamp out ballot-rigging and restore trust in the electoral system.

The commission has also launched a study into concerns that some South Asian communities – notably those with roots in parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh – were particularly susceptible to electoral fraud.

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Sixteen local authority areas – all of them in England – have been identified as being at greater risk of complaints of alleged vote-rigging being reported.

The commission said it was essential that electoral registration officers, returning officers and police forces in those areas put in place measures to protect the integrity of the vote before the next set of local and European elections in May.

The at-risk areas include Birmingham, the scene of a notorious ballot-rigging case in 2004 which the presiding judge said would “disgrace a banana republic”.

Alongside Bradford, others on the list are Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Calderdale, Coventry, Derby, Hyndburn, Kirklees, Oldham, Pendle, Peterborough, Slough, Tower Hamlets, Walsall, and Woking.

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In its final report of electoral fraud in the UK, the commission rejected calls to restrict access to postal voting – which has been at the centre of many of the allegations – saying it would prevent many innocent people from casting their vote.

However, it said the existing code of conduct needed to be strengthened to ensure campaigners do not handle postal votes or voting application forms. It warned that it would seek legislation if the problem was not resolved voluntarily.

It also called for legislation by 2019 at the latest requiring voters in England, Scotland and Wales to produce proof of identity before they are issued with a ballot paper at a polling station.