Postal Voting 1
"SCRAP POSTAL VOTING BLACKMAIL" - YAQOOB
18-04-2008
Birmingham Councillor Salma Yaqoob has called for the scrapping of more relaxed rules designed to make postal voting easier. She warns that the current system leads to "blackmail" and undermines the the democratic principles of a secret ballot.
Yaqoob was commenting in the aftermath of The Stirrer's story about Liberal Democrat Cabinet Member Ayoub Khan who delivered 200 postal voting applications to the city's elections office this week - along with 150 voter registration forms (see link here).
Until a few years ago, postal voting was only allowed for voters who were infirm, or away from their local area on polling day, but the government relaxed the rules to encourage greater participation in the democratic process.
Respect councillor Yaqoob says it's time to revert to the status quo, to prevent abuse: "What Ayoub Khan was doing was not illegal, it was within the rules. But when one person is carrying that many application forms it should tell us that something is wrong with the system.
"On the streets it feeds the idea that there's corruption and that leads to disillusionment with the whole system.
"We should back to the situation we had before. We've been calling for that since 2005 after systematic rigging by the Labour Party was discovered.
"In fact since then it's become even easier to cheat, because there's no longer the requirement to have a witness to the signature.
"I know for a fact that people are being blackmailed to support candidates they don't want to vote for. They are told that it's a very serious matter when it comes to family relationships, and there's nothing to stop that going on. The system is open to abuse.
"Labour knew that people who are well known in the community - family elders and so on - who have loyalty to the party would encourage others to follow.
"It means that the ballot isn't secret, because young people are pressured to vote a certain way."
SHOULD WE REVERT TO THE PREVIOUS SYSTEM AND MAKE POSTAL VOTING MORE DIFFICULT? LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE STIRRER FORUM.
