Stolen' Ulster Votes Spark Call For Identity Checks 

PA News  05/23/00 08:24

Copyright 2000 PA News

By Jackie Storer, Political Staff, PA News

The Government is "dragging its feet" over promises to outlaw electoral malpractice in Northern Ireland, Ulster Unionist William Thompson claimed today.  

The West Tyrone MP argued that there was "considerable" malpractice in the Province, with some electors not even realising their votes had been "stolen".  

In a letter to Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble earlier this month, the Prime Minister said he hoped to find parliamentary time before the General Election for a Bill to be introduced on electoral fraud.

Junior Northern Ireland Office Minister George Howarth said in the meantime electoral "smart cards" were being piloted and the investigatory powers of the chief electoral officer in Ulster were being considered.

Signature verification was technically possible, he added.

Mr Thompson said unlike on the mainland, parties in Northern Ireland had to work extremely hard to ensure a maximum turnout.

"There's always the temptation in that situation to enter into electoral malpractice," he said, during a short debate on the matter at Westminster Hall.

"It's a general feeling that the Government is dragging its feet on this particular issue."

Mr Thompson urged speed in introducing measures to reduce the practice in time for May 2001's local government elections.

During the 1997 General Election, more than 38,000 applications for postal votes were made in the Province.   Up to 10% of such applications, and those for proxy votes, were fraudulent, he said.

"One can see, given the nature of that malpractice, how the result of an election can be affected."

Mr Thompson said that while the introduction of a smart cards using signature verification would take time, there were other safety checks that could be carried out to reduce fraud.

These included ensuring that forms for inclusion on the electoral register should ask for the date of birth of each elector, their National Insurance number and their mother's maiden name.

The number of rooms in a house and whether applicants possessed a driving licence, for identification purposes, could also be added. A pin number could be issued.

Mr Thompson called for an end to marked registers which gave away how often a person voted, making it easy for names to be used to put in false proxy or postal votes. 

The presiding officer should be given the power to object to suspect applications and the police should be more active in arresting those who tried to defraud the system, he said.

Mr Howarth pledged to give careful consideration to all the points raised, but did not accept that the Government was dragging its feet.

"While we entirely agree that it's important that electoral procedures should be robust enough in order to prevent access to electoral fraud becoming too readily available, on the other hand we don't want to make access to the vote so difficult that it actually puts legitimate voters off," he said.

Electoral abuse was very difficult to prove because many people who appeared to have their vote stolen from them were afraid to speak out or were unaware it had been taken.

"We are looking to bring forward early legislation on electoral fraud. We would hope to find parliamentary time for such a Bill before the next election," said Mr Howarth.

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Last updated: Monday, July 19, 2004