Postal vote fraud fears

Soaring numbers of postal voters in the West Midlands today sparked fears the May local elections could be 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, while Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Dudley have each already recorded increases of around 2,000.

This will take numbers to 23,000 in Dudley, 21,000 in Sandwell, and 17,000 in Wolverhampton, with the deadline for applications still a fortnight away.

Wolverhampton City Council spokesman Tim Clark said: "The entire electoral register is based on trust. We are relient on people telling us the truth."

Critics are worried about"ghost voters" being added to the roll when the head of a household invents people living at the address on official forms for the region's electoral register.

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. And 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.

Wolverhampton electoral officers rejected 483 postal votes in last year's poll but put this down to honest mistakes rather than foul play.

The Pedmore and Stourbridge East count in Dudley had to be abandoned when it was found that 400 postal ballots had either been lost or scanned incorrectly. Councils say they can weed out fraud.

More reports in tonight's Express & Star.