Voting Reform: We The People
A 19th century electoral system for the 21st century. The damning statement of the Electoral Commission in their report (pdf). It also reveals that the “current fragmented arrangements for electoral administration” treats voters as an “afterthought”.
The Electoral Commission has identiified massive loopholds in the electoral system that could allow for fraud. Such as the ability for voters to rock up and vote just like that. They propose photo ID being required in order to vote. This I support. It is just common sense. At the moment, the electoral system is so open to fraud right at the point where we cast our votes, as nothing is required from us except to give a name - and in reality we could give anyones. And it’s not like we all don’t have at least one form of photo ID!
Alongside this is the way that we register our right to vote. Currently this is done by the head of the household for each address. The proposal made by the Electoral Commission is that we have a national electoral register, which each voter must sign up to on their own - providing a signature, date of birth and national insurance number. Like photo ID, This is a good proposal and makes common sense.
The current electoral system under which we run our democratic elections is under massive strain, and simply cannot continue as it is. It needs to be reformed. These reforms proposed by the Electroal Commission are absolutely correct. Unless they are made, the outcomes of our elections will soon be open to suspicion.
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If the choice is between having the informal english sort of election where you turn up, are trusted to give your own name and vote and any other more formal system then I’d want a significantly more formal way of dealing with anyone who dared but themselves forward as a candidate and got very few votes.
Life imprisonment rather than merely losing their deposit comes to mind.
The problem is not the voters or how they vote - the problem is the parasitical political class that has grown over the years until politics is now considered a profession rather than a duty.
That in it self sums up the problem - professional politicans are in it to make money first and serve the people second whereas the old system of the bumbling amateur who went into politics to have something to do of an evening until his father died and he took over managing the estate there was a least a chance that the interests of the people figured somewhere in the politicians thoughts.
Personally I’d go back to a system of public voting so that those who voted for people like Blair and Cameron could be identified and persecuted for their crimes.