Is vote fraud a price Cameron is happy to pay?

One of the practices that has risen up the news agenda in recent years has been vote fraud. The level of ballot manipulation has risen - partly due to changes to make it easier to vote by post - and politicians and commentators have also started to take more notice of the problem that has always existed.

For all that some people would have you believe that we live in a perfect system, there has always been electoral fraud in the UK and the law is frequently changed to try to stamp it out. We have adopted the secret ballot and abolished rotten boroughs. We have also tried to stamp out intimidation and group voting.

But one issue that has become more prevalent has been fraud involving postal votes. In the past, a postal vote was only issued for cause - in other words if an elector was ill or away from home on polling day. Then the Labour government introduced postal voting on demand. I think they did so for good reason - turnout was falling and they were trying to make it easier to vote.

But taking ballot papers out of the supervision of election officials increases the risk of fraud. And there were cases of significant fraud taking place. The Birmingham case (where the judge described the system as being like a banana republic) was the most high profile, but there were many others.

One way to combat fraud of this type (and other frauds too) is to introduce individual voter registration. Instead of a 'head of household' filling in a voter registration form on behalf of the whole household, each elector will have to fill in their own form. This allows for personal identifier - signatures or dates of birth or NI numbers - to be collected. Then, when a person applied for a postal vote, officials can check to ensure it is really the voter themself making the application. We already check that the person who returns the ballot paper is the person who applied for it - but that doesn't help if it was fraud in both cases.

This is a significant step in the right direction for UK democracy. But it is all at risk because David Cameron won't let the Bill be debated in the House of Lords. It is a government bill which has already been debated in the Commons and passed two Lords hurdles - so why the problem?

The issue is that Lib Dem peer Chris Rennard has tabled an amendment to rule out boundary changes until 2018. Cameron is worried that this amendment will be passed and he will lose any chance of the Conservatives' 20 seat bonus that they expect from the boundary review (the review that will also introduce a Devonwall seat, by the way).

Cameron has already tried a 'cash for constituencies' deal with the Lib Dems by offering party funding reform in return for the new seats. But Nick Clegg has refused to play ball. Now he is apparently trying to cobble a deal together with the SNP, Plaid Cymru and DUP.

In the meantime, whilst Cameron tries his best to get his new seats, he is delaying legislation that will help to prevent vote fraud. According to reports by Paul Waugh from this morning's Number 10 lobby briefing, the Prime Minister might even be trying to declare the bill to be a financial one in order to assert the right of the Commons to pass it without Lords interference. Sounds to me like the nationalists have told him where he can stick his deal.

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How to rig an election - your contributions welcome

Up until September 2006, I worked for the Electoral Reform Society - sometimes known as the provisional wing of the Liberal Democrats. One of the major accomplishments whilst I worked there was the transformation from a very niche pressure group which only talked about STV to a well-respected organisation which was happy to provide neutral briefings on all aspects of elections and voting. Clearly our raison d'etre remained advocacy of a fairer method of election and STV in particular. But we were happy to give informed comment on any aspect of the process.

One of the areas on which I led was electoral fraud. There had always been rumours of (and sometimes prosecutions for) attempts to illegally fix the polls. But during the period from around 2000 until now, there have been more and more cases where it appears as though elections have actually been rigged.

Perhaps the most famous case was that in the Aston and Bordesley Green wards in Birmingham. This was the case where the judge described the UK system as being one which would shame a banana republic and which saw four Labour councillors convicted (one was subsequently cleared on appeal).

However, this is not simply a matter where Labour are guilty. I was an expert witness in a case in London in which Lib Dem and Conservative candidates were accused.

Whilst working for ERS, I proposed a seminar to point out just how open to abuse the UK system was - and still is. It was to run under the title of 'How to rig an election'. Perhaps unsurprisingly, my boss shied away from such an event (and certainly from the title). But as I don't work for ERS any more, I am going to revive the concept and write an essay showing just how easy it is for elections in the UK to be rigged. The essay will look at those areas we know about and those where we only suspect that things can go awry.

Naturally this is a touchy subject. There are those who will suggest that an essay such as this will aid and abet criminal activity. Well, possibly. But I think I'll only be pulling together ideas which are already known about within political circles. And as the Government seems determined to avoid taking any action to really tackle the problem...

So this is where you come in, dear reader. I would like your experiences and even conspiracy theories. Tell me how open to abuse you think that the UK electoral system is and give me practical examples of what could go wrong. Feel free to email me - alexfolkes at gmail dot com - all information I receive will be held in confidence. And if you wish to keep the names and parties of those involved in past activities secret then feel free to do so. This is not a witch hunt going after particular groups or parties. What I want to show is how the system is failing.