An investigation is under way into alleged electoral fraud in Walsall amid fears of vote-rigging.
Walsall Council has referred the matter to West Midlands Police and the Electoral Commission, which have both launched probes.
Peter Allsop, Walsall Council electoral services manager, confirmed an investigation was under way following a complaint of “false voter registration”. The specialist economic crime team at West Midlands Police is looking into the claims, the exact nature of which have not been revealed.
Walsall Council leader John O’Hare said: “It certainly is concerning. We do our utmost to ensure standards are met.
“I think there probably have been complaints before - most of them have been found to have no basis and there has certainly never been any prosecution in the town.
“I do not know the specifics, I just hope it is not the case in this instance.”Earlier this year soaring numbers of postal votes sparked fears that the May elections could be left wide open to fraud.
Officials at Walsall forecast a surge of nearly 5,000 people voting by mail compared to last year’s figure of 15,000.
Critics said they were worried about”ghost voters” being added to the roll when the head of a household invents people living at the address on official forms.
The bogus voters can then apply for a postal ballot filled in by somebody else, ensuring they never have to appear in person at a polling station.
There are no checks. Widespread postal ballot rigging during local elections in Birmingham in June 2004 prompted a major investigation that led to the results in Bordesley Green and Aston being scrapped.
For the first time this year, Walsall Council combined a poll card with a personalised postal vote application form which it said would further remove any issue of potential fraud.
A code of conduct was also agreed to by all the major parties that laid down appropriate conduct by political parties regarding postal vote applications and postal vote packs.
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