Postal voting human rights worry

Post boxes will replace ballot boxes in four regions

Allowing political parties to know who has cast postal votes before the close of polls raises clear human rights risks, the elections watchdog has said.

Electoral Commission chief Sam Younger told MPs he was examining legal advice as all-postal vote trials loom in June.

Registers of votes could lead to people feeling intimidated by repeated pressure from parties, he argues.

The government wants all-postal votes piloted in four regions at the local and European elections.

Pressure risk?

At normal polling station votes, the parties can see registers of who has voted, but only after the close of the polls. Voters can, however, choose to give details to party tellers as they leave the polling stations.

But the new Bill will allow canvassers to see "polling progress information", enabling them to target those who have still to vote.

Mr Younger said: "There is, in human rights terms, a clear danger...

"It's possible if you've got campaigners who have narrowed down the number of people they want to have a go at in terms of saying 'we want you to return your vote', the pressure on those individuals could be great."

That was a theoretical risk, he said.

There had been a small number of complaints about the issue from previous trials but polls suggested people were instinctively opposed to the idea.

There was also a general issue of invading people's privacy by canvassing them at their homes, he said.

Opt-out?

Mr Younger said he had urged caution on the issue for the trials until the commission had come to a conclusion on the legal advice later in the year.

The commission's lawyers suggest people should at least be able to opt out.

Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer has said the plans are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The government acknowledges that giving parties "polling progress information" did raise issues about respect for private life and ballot secrecy

But it maintains any interference with privacy "is minimal, given that political parties will be canvassing even if the polling progress information is not provided, and given the public nature of the traditional form of voting (i.e. going to a polling station)."

Any interference would be justified, it argues, because encouraging people to vote is a legitimate objective.

Andrew Bennett, Labour chairman of the committee, suggested it was more annoying to be approached by canvassers if you had already cast your vote.

Personal registration

Mr Younger said extreme caution was the watchword for the pilots. Protection was in place and there were security risks in any voting system.

The House of Lords defeated government plans to hold the pilots in four regions, not the three originally expected, but MPs on Monday reversed that change.

Mr Younger repeated his concerns about holding such a large trial without first putting in place robust legal safeguards, especially in regions which had elections at both local and European levels.

In particular, he wanted to move from households registering to vote to personal registration, with checks on people's signatures and an end to third parties witnessing the forms being filled in.

That change could end fears about pressure on people from other family members, for example.