Bradford & District | Archive | 2005 | April | 27
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Wednesday 27th Apr 2005.
At the last count more than 15 per cent of Bradford's electorate had applied to vote by post.
Bradford Council, which is overseeing the ballot on behalf of the Government, has received 50,348 postal vote applications out of a possible 333,355 people.
The constituency with the greatest proportion of those applications was Shipley which had 11,460 registered by last night's deadline - a figure large enough to overturn the 1,428 majority of Labour minister Chris Leslie several times over.
Nearly 11,000 Keighley voters had also applied to ballot by post, more than 10,200 in Bradford West, more than 9,500 in Bradford North and more than 8,300 in Bradford South.
The huge numbers dwarf those of four years ago. The Telegraph & Argus figures reveal a staggering 163 per cent increase in applications for postal votes in Bradford, up from 19,000 at the 2001 General Election.
The Electoral Reform Society has already said the huge rise - replicated in marginal seats across England - brought an "inevitable" risk of fraud.
At the time a spokesman admitted: "There has been a massive increase since 2001, and this raises problems of potential fraud and logistical problems for election office staff."
If there are doubts that the system is secure, it raises the prospect of legal challenges if a constituency, where there has been a massive increase in postal voting, is won by a narrow margin.
Widespread concerns about fraud in the General Election are potentially hugely embarrassing for Labour, which relaxed the rules to allow everyone to have a postal vote in 2001.
And they faced massive criticism last year when they introduced all-postal voting for certain council and European elections.
The Government reacted to concerns yesterday by launching a £250,000 advertising campaign, warning of the dangers of postal voting fraud.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs is placing advertisements in 42 national and regional newspapers setting out advice to voters on how to keep their votes secret and safe.
The list of papers includes a number of titles aimed at ethnic minority communities. The move follows high-level talks last week involving DCA officials, the police, the Electoral Commission, the Royal Mail and representatives of returning officers.
With an estimated 6.5 million postal votes expected to be cast in the General Election, returning officers have warned that they are struggling to process them in time while checking for possible fraud.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008