Electoral Commission Investigates Claims Of Double Voting In General Election

The Electoral Commission is investigating up to 1,000 complaints, amid concerns that some people may have voted fraudulently in the general election on 8 June.

The electoral watchdog has warned of a 'troubling' rise in alleged voter fraud, after suggestions that votes could have been boosted at June's election by students voting for them twice.

It is actually legal for students to be registered to vote in both their university and their home towns, but they are still only permitted to vote once.

The Houses of Parliament. Credit: PA

The Electoral Commission's report said: "Although people may lawfully be registered to vote in more than one place in certain circumstances, it is troubling that some voters appear to have admitted voting more than once at the general election, which is an offence."

Some students have allegedly admitted to double voting.

The current system, which relies on paper lists distributed to polling stations, makes it very difficult to stop people from voting twice if they do happen to be registered in two separate locations.

Labour's Cat Smith, the shadow minister for voter engagement and youth affairs, said something must be done to tackle the issue, but that the Government should be wary of making changes that could deter people from voting at all and should not ban people from registering in two places.

A polling station in Oxford. Credit: PA

"To build a healthy democracy we need active participation of all citizens," she said.

"We agree with a number of the key recommendations put forward by the Electoral Commission. Double voting is a serious crime and it is vital that the police have the resources they need to bring about prosecution.

"However, we urge caution when looking at measures to tackle this issue - a blanket ban on being registered at two addresses would exclude those who for reasons of work or study need to be registered in two places. This cannot be an attempt to make it harder for young people and students to register to vote."

The commission's report also mentioned the rise in young voters signing up, with nearly two million applying after Theresa May called the snap election in May.

The watchdog called for ministers to introduce a system to allow voters to check if they are already registered and to consider whether to adopt automatic registration schemes like the one used in Australia.

Source: the Guardian

Featured Image Credit: Flickr/RachelH_ (Creative Commons)

Topics: general election, Voting

Michael Minay

Mike Minay is a trending journalist at LADbible. He’s co-ordinated interviews with some of the big names from the world of news and sport including ITV’s Robert Peston, Sky Sports’ Jeff Stelling and darts champion Michael van Gerwen. His reporting days began on University radio in Birmingham, before moving to BBC Sport Online – creating content for large events such as Wimbledon and the FA Cup final. Mike still commentates on Football League matches at the weekend. A Manchester LAD at heart.

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