Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for nine years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
John Hemming points out the 'excellent job' carried out by the Newsnight reporter who interviewed assorted Liberal Democrats, Respect members and junkies to expose alleged voting fraud in Birmingham. Sadly Mr Hemming obviously didn't have time in his busy schedule to mention the 'excellent job' Newsnight's Michael Crick did in the same programme by putting all this into context by pointing out that 11 people have been jailed for voter fraud in the last six years... only two of them Labour... and four Liberal Democrats!
Having worked in most elections since 1962 I can honestly say that it is only in the last four or five years that I have heard that any candidate or party would contemplate fiddling the ballot in a public election. I attended a session of the last election court in Birmingham and came away thoroughly depressed.
One issue that was never mentioned is that the court looked at votes cast in a local election held on the same day as the European election - how accurate was that result?
Bob Piper said:
November 1, 2007 12:24 PM | permalink
Surely the problem with our elections to Europe is getting people to vote once, not several times?
November 1, 2007 11:37 AM | permalink
Having worked in most elections since 1962 I can honestly say that it is only in the last four or five years that I have heard that any candidate or party would contemplate fiddling the ballot in a public election. I attended a session of the last election court in Birmingham and came away thoroughly depressed.
One issue that was never mentioned is that the court looked at votes cast in a local election held on the same day as the European election - how accurate was that result?