2 May (Part 1) - Under the thumb?
If you are a North Heath voter and show up at the polling station tomorrow saying
your name is Philip Read of - well look it up yourself, it’s easy enough to find -
there is a good chance you will get away with it, especially if you call the
staff cretins to maximise authenticity.
Voter fraud is easy and there is probably a lot of it about. I have two cousins
who have always been involved in elections, one will be a presiding officer
tomorrow and the other checks postal votes. Both have stories to tell about
voter fraud and it is about time something was done about it.
Something is.
In Woking, Watford, Gosport, Slough and Bromley voters will be asked for ID. A
Bromley voter told me that her Freedom Pass will be good enough so there at
least the requirements are not too onerous.
Why not Tower Hamlets you might ask. That is surely the place renowned for voter
fraud. Would its introduction there cause a riot?
Probably, because my informant inside Tower Hamlets Council says the offer went
out to Tower Hamlets but he reports that the Chief Executive and Returning Officer rejected the idea.
Instead they are going to look at Postal Votes more carefully. Didn’t they think of doing that before?
The Chief Executive is Will Tuckley, late of Bexley Council. I was never
sure whether Tuckley was as disreputable as the Cabinet he served or whether he
was basically a good guy under their thumb anxious to get away as soon as the opportunity arose.
I am beginning to make up my mind on that.
Last year
he turned a blind eye to a £2 million bribe until after six months
things got too hot and he felt obliged to report it to the police, now he is
alleged to have rejected the idea of a voter ID trial. Maybe the elected Mayor John Biggs leant on him.
The police are already
investigating fraud in tomorrow’s election.
Hmm, what’s to do on the new website? Late on Monday evening I must have
introduced a bug, it was OK during the day but by yesterday large chunks of text
was being missed. Wasted the whole day trying to fix it. Done now.