Electoral Commission raises doubts over postal vote applications being handled legally by the Conservatives

The whole practice sounds very questionable now that you highlight it. Thank you for doing so.

That sounds very odd.

We have postal votes, have had for some years since we were going to be overseas on an election day, but had to apply to the Electoral Registration Office at County Hall to be put on the list.

Does sound unusual.

Completely agree - if the Tories wanted to increase voting, the envelopes could be printed with the relevant local authority address.

Of course, the Tories don’t want to increase voting, or they would not have introduced entirely unnecessary voter id.

I'm glad not to be the only one feeling uncomfortable about it.

Maybe we will get more clarity but, with Parliament on holiday it seems the journalist have also taken a break (not unreasonably) and the TV programmes that might ask the relevant questions are off-air.

All these new practices make me deeply uncomfortable

Well I've not had one sent to me or anyone I know. Has anyone else on here had one or is it just nonsense.

I assume you looked this up Nicenanny3 before you basically accused me of trolling.

For everyone's information, you can see an article here inews.co.uk/news/electoral-commission-doubts-postal-vote-applications-legal-conservatives-2232318

I actually picked it up on a blog I follow. I haven't had the letter and forms but don't expect them to send them out to those who already use postal voting.

I'm not accusing you of trolling don't be silly, just making a comment I don't have a postal vote and I've not received one of these letters and nor has anyone I know. Perhaps it's just certain areas.

I am not being "silly" but you are being very rude. I take our democracy very seriously. You obviously still haven't read the article I flagged where it tells you that in the last few weeks tens of thousands of these have gone out and shows a picture of the forms and the stamped addressed envelope.

I'm not being rude, just stating I've not had a letter nor have any of my friends and asking if anyone on GN has. Anyway life's too short, chill.

These elections do not involve voters in London. Our local elections are at a different time in the calendar. So are other big cities involved. I realise that this thread was really accusing the Tories of dirty tricks but when the huge number of postal votes in Tower Hamlets was questioned there were cries of Tory racism. So this is yet another ploy to question Conservative Party use of postal votes. We all realise the Tories will get trounced in the local elections so maybe they are just trying to get older people who cannot get out to vote. And Daisy Anne we all know you despise the Tories.

Nicenanny3

I'm not being rude, just stating I've not had a letter nor have any of my friends and asking if anyone on GN has. Anyway life's too short, chill.

No, I haven't had any of them. However, I have noticed that the Conservative campaign literature makes almost no reference to the Conservative Party or the candidates' manifesto for the local area. It's really nasty negative smearing of the current council, which is independent. They're bombarding the local Facebook groups with the same kind of stuff too.

Just that it was your opinion that I might write unresearched nonsense, it is my opinion that your reply was rude Nicenanny3.

Anniel

These elections do not involve voters in London. Our local elections are at a different time in the calendar. So are other big cities involved. I realise that this thread was really accusing the Tories of dirty tricks but when the huge number of postal votes in Tower Hamlets was questioned there were cries of Tory racism. So this is yet another ploy to question Conservative Party use of postal votes. We all realise the Tories will get trounced in the local elections so maybe they are just trying to get older people who cannot get out to vote. And Daisy Anne we all know you despise the Tories.

Where did I accuse the Tories of dirty tricks? I questioned their reason for asking people to reply via their local Conservative Party Office. The only thing I can think of is a chance to glean information. You may have a better answer. It is worth remembering that it is illegal to harvest data unless you have asked for and been given permission by the voter to do so.

I'm not sure how often you go on the N & P threads, but if it was as often as some of us do you would know that I would say exactly the same if this happened under a Labour Party government that had previously taken all power away from the independent body who used to be able to look into these things. So, please don't attribute things to me that I haven't written.

Anniel

These elections do not involve voters in London. Our local elections are at a different time in the calendar. So are other big cities involved. I realise that this thread was really accusing the Tories of dirty tricks but when the huge number of postal votes in Tower Hamlets was questioned there were cries of Tory racism. So this is yet another ploy to question Conservative Party use of postal votes. We all realise the Tories will get trounced in the local elections so maybe they are just trying to get older people who cannot get out to vote. And Daisy Anne we all know you despise the Tories.

Which poster used to have that great meme of someone banging their head repeatedly against a wall? I think DaisyAnne needs it.

Just what will it take for some people to wake up to what is being taken from them?

My understanding is that they can do this legally where the local council who send out the postal votes do not provide a stamped addressed envelope. There is no compulsion to use the envelope provided. There is always the option of sending the form directly to the returning officer or handing it in at a polling station. I don’t think it is quite as sinister as people are making it out to be but none the less I think it is a bad idea. Not because the votes will be tampered with in any way but because the whole system has to be SEEN to be independent. Having said that I don’t agree with postal voting except in very limited circumstances and think the expansion of postal voting as well as the need to show ID at polling stations have serious implications for democracy.

We don't have elections here this time either but that's not the point.

The point is that an application for a postal vote should go directly to your local Electoral Registration Office at your County Council offices.

As I understand it, these are not voting forms, GrannyRose, as it would be illegal for them to go to a local political party office, but these are application forms for postal voting.

I don't despise the Tories. I despise some Tories, and I despise Tory morality. There are some genuinely nice people who are Tories despite official Tory morality.

Thanks for the heads-up about postal voting!

Caleo, you are right. This is not about voting. That would be so wrong.

I think they can send the forms legally whether or not the local Council provides a stamped addressed envelope GrannyRose. As I said, encouraging more people to vote is a good thing to do.

However, if they were only trying to encourage more postal voters, and they thought prepaid envelopes help - as they may well do - they could have addressed them to the Council. Why address them to the Party Offices and put another step in the process? They still have to be sent to the Council. You could be losing precious days.

I don't think the office of any one Party is more likely to do anything wrong than the office of another Party when in power. I'm afraid they are just as likely to get a rogue person in one party as another unless they are scrupulously careful. As you say, they should be seen as above suspicion, especially when they have taken control of what was the independent means of scrutiny.

Callistemon21

As I understand it, these are not voting forms, GrannyRose, as it would be illegal for them to go to a local political party office, but these are application forms for postal voting.

In that case it is perfectly acceptable. Presumably only those with a Tory leaning will apply to them for a postal vote. Others can apply elsewhere.

But as I have indicated I don’t think any party should be encouraging people to apply for postal votes as they don’t offer the same level of privacy as voting in person. Incidentally one of my Labour councillors is encouraging people to go for a postal vote because it’s easier as “you don’t need ID when voting by post”. Makes you think doesn’t it?