Commenting on the newly published review into allegations of electoral malpractice in the 2011 elections, the Electoral Commission had this to say:
Over 39 million votes were cast during the [May 2011] election period, but only 224 cases of alleged electoral malpractice were reported to the police. Of these cases, 99 required no further police action and none have been shown to have affected the outcome of any election or referendum.
Despite the relatively low level of allegations, 36% of people believe electoral fraud is a ‘very big’ or ‘fairly big’ problem. These people, however, were more likely to have seen stories in the media about fraud than those who said it was not a very big problem or a problem at all (49% v 32%). The Commission plans further research to better understand why voters are so concerned.
* Mark Pack is Party President and is the editor of Liberal Democrat Newswire.
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4 Comments
That 36% figure needs to be read in the context of another finding in that report:
“Electoral fraud is not an issue that most people consider themselves well informed about. In 2011 only 6% said they knew a lot about it and 56% said they knew hardly anything or nothing at all. This represents a fall in self-declared knowledge since 2010, when 10% said they were well informed and 47% said they knew hardly anything or nothing at all.”
The cross tabs aren’t available in the EC report but it would be interesting as to how that 56% breaks down.
Certainly a poll which has a question “what are your views on this subject which you know next to nothing about…”
I would be reasonably confident that those engaged in political activism would give a higher score than 36% believing it to be a problem. Most of us would consider that jiggery pokery does go on, but in most cases where there are suspicions, there is not really enough evidence to make a complaint.
for some ‘complainants’ it is no more than an excuse as to why they don’t bother voting, – along the lines of ‘they are all the same’ or ‘what’s the point’. To some extent they are, of course, right, what with FPTP and a heavily loaded media..
It ‘s no great surprise that people assume the worst of our political system. They have a very low opinion of MPs and yet generally quite like their own local MPs: that’s been so since the 1970s and probably before.
However, the question may well have been ambiguous. Imagine I’m asked, “Is murder by strangers a big problem?”. I suspect the number of such incidents is very low, but a handful is too many and if I say it’s not a big problem, am I saying it isn’t very important? People may have been saying not so much that electoral fraud was widespread, as that they thought it was terrible when it happened, which would be an encouraging message.