§ Lord Norton of Louthasked Her Majesty's Government: What steps they are taking to ensure the security of the ballot in elections held by postal voting. [HL141]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Filkin)There are already in place arrangements designed to protect the security of postal votes, in that postal voters are required to include with their returned ballot paper a declaration verifying their identity.
140WAThe Government recognise though that there has been some public concern about the security of all-postal elections. While the Electoral Commission's evaluation of the pilots held at the 2002 and 2003 local elections found no evidence of absent voting leading to an increase in fraudulent activity, the Government are not complacent. Therefore, the European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill includes two specific security measures— extending the power of arrest without warrant for personation to any location; and extending the time by which a prosecution must be commenced.
Further security measures, such as the use of watermarked or 'under-printed' ballot papers will also be included in the order setting out the detailed arrangements for the individual pilot schemes.
The Government are also actively considering which Electoral Commission recommendations aimed at increasing security and improving public confidence should become permanently included in UK electoral legislation.