tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post114063549677605647..comments2024-03-04T17:54:32.559+00:00Comments on Iain Dale's Diary: How to Vote in the Banana Republic of BirminghamIain Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270146219458384372noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140970380274622102006-02-26T16:13:00.000+00:002006-02-26T16:13:00.000+00:00What we need is some heavy enforcement of the law....What we need is some heavy enforcement of the law. Possibly some police unit whose job is entirely to investigate these.<BR/><BR/>Send a number of people to jail, remove a few councillors, & MPs, & order by-elections, bring to trial the cabinet ministers who said not to fix the postal voting system because it would cost them votes (some very rich Tory could afford a private prosecution here). <BR/><BR/>At the moment the assumption is that unless the fraud is so large & blatant that it must have affected the result let it go. The opposite is what is needed - the game must not be worth the candle.neil craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09157898238945726349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140740033386221822006-02-24T00:13:00.000+00:002006-02-24T00:13:00.000+00:00I was also a candidate in 2004 and a polling agent...I was also a candidate in 2004 and a polling agent and counting agent in 2005. I had to get Respect campaigners slung out of polling stations and had a Lib Dem campaigner removed from a polling station precinct for pushing his luck with voters. <BR/><BR/>I'd entirely agree with comments about certain wards being persistently dodgy, regardless of the winner. There are dubious elements in all parties - including the Liberal Democrats - and the failure of the recent Aston election petition is disappointing, because it would have allowed the public trial of some interesting allegations about the LDs involved.PoliticalHackUKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415484385177871124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140696129880371802006-02-23T12:02:00.000+00:002006-02-23T12:02:00.000+00:00Its curious that so many marked registers from 200...Its curious that so many marked registers from 2005 have been "lost" somewhere between the count and the central store run by Pickfords. Makes it rather difficult to check if you think something doesn't quite add up in an election result!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140695446630227872006-02-23T11:50:00.000+00:002006-02-23T11:50:00.000+00:00I have no doubt these things go on - most presidin...I have no doubt these things go on - most presiding officers are clowns who know nothing about electoral law, the conduct of a polling station or even that they are actually meant to verify that every piece of paper that goes into a ballot box is a stamped ballot paper.<BR/><BR/>The idea that this is all because of Labour is a joke, though. The past masters at voting fraud were the Hackney Lib Dems - assisted by the Tories in some elections in recent years.<BR/><BR/>Having said all that most people I have come accross in elections - and I've seen a hell of a lot, were honest and decent and not law breakers.<BR/><BR/>Local authorities should do something about the monkeys they employ to preside over the ballots. But fraud is tiny and the idea that Labour got 1.5 million fraudulent votes in 2005 tells you more about the poster than the issue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140687015724523642006-02-23T09:30:00.000+00:002006-02-23T09:30:00.000+00:00It's become very clear to me since i mistakenly be...It's become very clear to me since i mistakenly believed in 1997 Blair would rid this country of sleaze,abslolute blatant political dishonesty and misappropriation of funds and all the etcereras' that have become appropriate to his tiresome oppressive regime.<BR/>The depths this regime has plummed to hang on to power has reach the equivelent of the Marianas trench in political terms. So it is no suprise that we read of this fraud at the ballotbox. A banana republic that has evolved very rapidly since 1997.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140683507383845832006-02-23T08:31:00.000+00:002006-02-23T08:31:00.000+00:00I am horrified!I am horrified!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140682762689508032006-02-23T08:19:00.000+00:002006-02-23T08:19:00.000+00:00Iain is a Liberal Democrat (the reference to losin...Iain is a Liberal Democrat (the reference to losing by 24 votes and screwing up the petition is the Sparkhill Ward in 2000 - despite the comment, nothing was 'proved' but then what do you expect from a Liberal Democrat?). As a Labour candidate in 2004 I had a Lib Dem candidate spend the whole day outside a polling station in a strong Muslim area of the Ward greeting voters as they were going into the polling station.<BR/><BR/>There aren't many clean hands in Birmingham and certainly not the Liberal Democrats who are also starting to discover some of the difficulties of inner city politics there. Witness the suspension of Lib Dem constituency parties in the inner cities due to alleged 'Asian entryism'.<BR/><BR/>The Conservaties are probably not especially involved in the problems, but then they don't have any prospects in the areas where voting gets a bit 'inventive'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140652044111611692006-02-22T23:47:00.000+00:002006-02-22T23:47:00.000+00:00Perhaps it's time to move towards a more US-style ...Perhaps it's time to move towards a more US-style system of voter-ID requirements.Edwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03002358087343062031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1140646234908138772006-02-22T22:10:00.000+00:002006-02-22T22:10:00.000+00:00It's not who votes - but who counts the votes.Supp...It's not who votes - but who counts the votes.<BR/><BR/>Supposedly 1.5million fake/fraud postal votes were cast for Labour in the 2005 election.<BR/><BR/>These incidents described don't really suprise me.Chris Palmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17270498803593841764noreply@blogger.com