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Simon Reevell MP welcomes the Government's initiative to clamp down on voting fraud

Posted by Simon Reevell, MP for Dewsbury, at 18:01, Wed 18 January 2012:

Simon Reevell, the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury, has welcomed the Government’s commitment to clamp down on voting fraud at the next General Election in 2015. Voting fraud will be tackled through the introduction of individual electoral registration during this Parliament, in 2014.

This change in how to register to vote will not only reduce voting fraud but it will also modernise the electoral system and give individuals control over whether they are included on the register. Individual electoral registration will ask each person to register themselves, rather than by household, and provide information which will be cross checked by registration officers before a person is added to the electoral register.

On 30 June 2011, the Government published draft legislation on individual electoral registration and a White Paper which set out the proposals for how this will be implemented. The electoral registration system will be modernised so that eligible people can register themselves more easily and in many different ways. The registration system will therefore be more accessible to under-represented groups and to those with special requirements, including disabled people.

There will be a transition period during which electors who do not register under the new system in 2014 will be carried forward onto that year’s register and will not lose their entitlement to vote at the 2015 General Election. However, all new electors and anyone wishing to cast a postal or a proxy vote in 2015 will have to be registered under the new system. Alongside this, steps will be taken to address the issue of those who are entitled to vote but are not on the electoral register so that the register is as accurate as possible.

Simon said, “I very much welcome the Government’s initiative to clamp down on voting fraud. When the new system is introduced in Dewsbury, each registration will be cross checked which will make fraud more difficult and risky.”

“The system which we currently use and which is susceptible to fraud is the out-dated ‘household’ registration system. The new system will have the added advantage of ensuring that every individual has control of their right to vote.”

“I am very pleased that a transition period will be introduced and that safeguards will be put in place to make sure that the 2015 General Election is held on the most accurate and complete registers possible. Although the individual electoral registration system is still two years away, I am keen to spread the word about the changes so that we are ready for the new system in 2014. There is no place for voting fraud in our democracy.”