So, in the last election there were only 6 cases of electoral #fraud (#MattHancock has reluctantly admitted). This from a #voting population of over 45M

You'll be aware of the number of cases of fraud by #Tory MPs (from a population of 355) exceeds this in nominal terms & is vastly larger in proportional terms.

So, let be clear, #voterID is about voter suppression not fraud.

If the #Tories were interested in #democratic fraud they'd put their own house in order.

h/t Roland Hoskins/Bird site

@ChrisMayLA6

However, part of the United Kingdom already has #voterID laws, which I don't hear much mention about or outcry over.

#NI in 2002 had The Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act
introduced which amended the Representation of the People Act 1983 which required all #NI voters to have photographic identification at polling stations.

So if it acceptable for us in #NI to have to produce ID, why isn't acceptable to the rest of the UK?

@jacqui76 @ChrisMayLA6 maybe it's not acceptable in NI either. There's a lot of ignorance about what happens in the other nations of the UK in England.

@Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

That is the problem right there. When it happens in England, there is uproar but when it's the other three nations - no-one is interested.

Maybe if those shouting about this, paid some attention how it is working in NI, then there could be a more reasoned debate.

So, if we are UK - then we all have the same voting laws or we don't. So bring the rest of the UK into line with #NI or remove the requirement from #NI

@jacqui76 @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

The myth-or-legend was that quite a lot of dead people used to vote in NI. This didn't happen in GB. It's not unreasonable to match the response to the observed threat.

@TimWardCam @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

There definitely was evidence of voter fraud in 1980's in NI. Many believed that Sinn Fein vote was affected more by that. However in 1983 for example 149 people arrested at polling stations, 104 were convicted.

Firstly think of the situation in NI at the time - why do think they may have wanted to discredit the British voting system - political statement? Also, was 104 convictions really that big of an opposed threat that required voter ID laws?

@TimWardCam @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

However when ID laws were introduced it reduced the number of incidents. Plus it helped improve the confidence of the voting public in the electoral system. So it worked.
#NI proved the system works.

So why wouldn't you want to increase the confidence of the GB voting public in elections.

Plus the real problem in GB is FPTP - which #NI doesn't use for Assembly or Local Elections either.

@jacqui76 @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6 There's no lack of confidence with in-person voting in GB. The fraud (both risk and actual) is in postal voting, which unlike in-person voting is wide open to all sorts of attacks (which I won't detail in case anyone reading this hasn't yet thought of them all).

If the Tories had actually wanted to improve the integrity of elections they'd have done something like removing postal votes on demand, not attacking in-person voting where there isn't a problem.

But hey ... guess what ... the Tories get lots of postal votes, so they wouldn't do anything to make postal voting less convenient.

@TimWardCam @jacqui76 @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

The only purpose of an election is to convince the LOSERS that they don't have the support of the majority.

Thus it is not enough that a voting system be secure: it must be OBVIOUSLY secure, so that not even the losers can claim that the election was stolen.

Electronic voting, mail voting, advance voting, voting from home are all "enhancements" with negligible or negative advantages that inevitably allow claims of fraud. They should be eliminated

@JorgeStolfi @TimWardCam @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

NI doesn't have electronic voting - paper & pencil in a booth!

After the nonsense in America, don't think I would want it here.

My only concern with your idea, how does people with mobility issues or cannot leave the house - exercise their democratic vote? They shouldn't be disenfranchised.

@jacqui76 @TimWardCam @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

PS: NI is Northern Ireland not Nicaragua, right?

@JorgeStolfi @TimWardCam @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

Yes NI is Northern Ireland.

I think your idea of mobile voting stations in Northern Ireland would not work.

People could easily be intimidated by election representatives standing outside, people working on then also could be intimidated. Also, certain areas could tell them to stay away to suppress the vote.

So I personally don't see that idea working in #NI.

@jacqui76 @TimWardCam @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

What if the staff are selected from the local population by random draft, like for jury duty?

If a home-bound voter requested the service, why would he not accept the staffers carrying the ballot box?

@JorgeStolfi @TimWardCam @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

The Electoral Office in NI, advertise already for Temporary Polling Staff to help deliver the elections already on top of the staff that work for the EO.

I can't see that working here. Political canvassers are already been intimated for delivering leaflets and putting up election posters in areas that some locals consider 'not' their area.

@JorgeStolfi @TimWardCam @Loukas @ChrisMayLA6

Actual Election Officials would be considered a high risk of intimidation, especially if they were carrying a ballot box. This could quite easily be stolen.

Considering Joanne Mathers, a woman carrying out the census in Derry, in 1981 was shot & killed for helping people fill the forms in. So as a post conflict society as NI is, postal voting is safer for all concerned.