Lords reject all-postal ballots amid fears of rigging

26 Feb 04
The government faces a tight deadline to extend trials of new voting methods this summer, after peers blocked proposals to increase the number of all-postal elections in June.

27 February 2004

The government faces a tight deadline to extend trials of new voting methods this summer, after peers blocked proposals to increase the number of all-postal elections in June.

Members of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat benches in the Lords voted against extending trials at this summer's local and European elections because of fears about potential vote-rigging.

All-postal voting trials will now be limited to just two areas – the East Midlands and the Northeast – unless the Department for Constitutional Affairs can push its European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill through Parliament by May. Ministers want trials extended to include the Northwest and Yorkshire and Humberside.

Debates in the upper house on February 23 ended with peers voting against proposals to roll out all-postal voting by 169 votes to 111. They also voted 157 to 110 to require postal voters to submit a witnessed declaration of identity with their ballot paper.

Sources at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, responsible for local elections, remained confident that trials, which have increased voter turnouts when they have been used, would be extended this summer. A spokeswoman said the department 'remains fully committed to modernising the election process'.

The DCA said it hoped the Bill would become law as early as the end of March, following a further reading in the Commons in three weeks' time.

A spokesman said: 'We have the option of seeking to reverse this decision in the Commons, which has not yet had an opportunity to express its view on the number of regions [involved], and we intend to pursue that option.'

PFfeb2004

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