Electoral fraud crackdown planned

6.09.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 27th Feb 2006

In 2004 the electoral commissioner said postal voting was "wide open to fraud" following a vote scandal in Birmingham. Six Labour councillors in the city were forced to step down after Sir Richard Mawrey found evidence of postal ballot abuse that he said would disgrace a "banana republic".

Falsely applying for a postal or proxy vote will become a crime under new laws intended to combat electoral fraud, the government is announcing measures to combat voting fraud ahead of the local elections next May. The plans include introducing ballot papers with security marks and barcodes to enable quick security checks.

Lord Rennard, Lib Dem chief executive, said: "New proposals to tackle postal vote fraud are welcome... but the Government is dragging its feet over the most important anti-fraud measure needed. The independent Electoral Commission has said that individual voter registration is necessary to prevent fraudulent abuse with postal voting... the Government should act to ensure that such a scheme is in place as soon as possible."