Election 2019

Thats disgraceful. It should be kept secret as it might well influence voters. Good for you WW. Could you send me a private message with the info and I will also report it.

Electoral commission guidance is that such an offence should be reported to the police.

Don’t need a pm barmey

I’ll leave it in here for everyone who is worried about our democracy.

electoralcommission.org.uk

You can contact them as a member of the public and just outline your concern.

I didn’t quote from the guidance so you might like to though.

Have you got a link, Whitewave?

I know this came up on twitter a few days ago when apparently D Raab in a radio interview said that he'd seen postal votes from his constituency. I'm afraid I didnt follow it up at the time as I expected that there would be more interest and more detail revealed. But it seemed to drop off the twitter radar.

Kuenssberg has reported on postal votes on the bbc.

I’ve put it in the post above, but it didn’t blue , but it is so easy.

A link to the story?

I can’t do twitter links, but it is all over twitter, people are furious. BBC said it was a mistake!

Not sure how that works.

“ oh sorry I mistakenly released information that I knew was entirely illegal”

Kuenssberg has been reported so many times here one of them. She clearly has form.

t.co/mIuK9Qep2R

#electoralfraud
Massive story!
Yet no other broadcast journalist has touched either the substantive story and/or how Laura Kuenssberg got it.
Peter Oborne is right isn't he - they have all been corrupted.

If @bbclaurak has seen Postal votes before they're supposed to be opened I urge everyone on twitter to report her to the electoral commission no ifs no buts if she stands by her LIE this is ELECTORAL FRAUD & a very serious offence so go ahead report her unless she retracts?

Interesting thread here, Whitewave. A lawyer claiming that what Kuenssberg has done was not illegal.

twitter.com/DanNeidle/status/1204804902230351873

However, she has, I think, broken the requirement that the BBC always claims it has to 'balance' their reporting when she said "If Boris Johnson gets the victory he so deserves”.

I think our fragile democracy has been badly corrupted for many years, culminating in the fraudulent referendum of 2016. This general election is a total farce. It will be won by the party which has spent the most money and employed the most unscrupulous ways of cheating and getting away with it.

The Electoral Commission needs stronger teeth. It could not annul the result of the fraudulent referendum because it was only advisory, yet the brexiters and the media have been able to treat it as if it was mandatory.

If brexit is not stopped the brexit brain drain will accelerate and many GNetters with well educated children and grandchildren who are contributing so much to this country will see them emigrate in despair.

This is appalling - and goes against all the rules of independent reporting.

But even much more serious, is the fact that Matt Hancock was allowed to SEE postal votes in his Constituency. This is so so wrong

Yep, I saw that on the lunchtime news on BBC. And yep again, it was Laura Kuenssberg who was reporting on it. It’s disgraceful because it’s illegal. How do the BBC get away with it?

Have you read the twitter thread, jura. It's even more shocking because this lawyer says that it happens all the time at every election...and it isn't, according to him, illegal.

Mind you, there could well be other lawyers around who interpret the Electoral law rather differently.

And, is this only about two constituencies? Hancock's and Raab's?

I'm sure that the EC, the BBC and the police will be snowed under with complaints about this.

Indeed- but what about Matt Hancock being given access to postal votes in his Constituency ?!? How wrong is that.

thanks WW

How do we know it's the truth? Hancock has already misled us
with the phantom punch.

Raab is one of the MPs most likely to lose his seat.

Apparently the BBC has taken down the Politics Today in which the deed was done.

So what is that saying?

If these stories are true (and we all know about fake news) then it's a failing of the Returning Officer rather than the candidates. He/she should be accountable.

The Electoral Commission 's own flowchart states that when the Postal Votes are received they should be opened and should be placed face down so no one can see the result, then put in a Ballot Box, which should be sealed after each addition of Ballot Papers. I worked in Local Government for years, and have worked on numerous Elections and Counts. The Postal Vote Ballot Box is opened at the start of the Count, and only then are the Ballot Papers counted, face up.

So, in the light of your experience, what do you think about the lawyer on twitter who says that everyone's been peeking at postal ballots for years and it's not illegal, curlywhirly? I must say, it shocked me...

Thank you for this thread.

Just to clarify, it is only at the Count, that the Ballot Papers are turned face up, so the actual votes for each party can be counted.
So at no time before the Count should anybody, not even Election staff, see how people have voted.