Results tagged “postal voting” from Birmingham Mail - Is It Just Me

Is there something in the contract of employment of politicians which prohibits then, upon pain of death, from ever saying "sorry, we were wrong"? First of all they can never admit anything has gone wrong and when it then becomes plain to see to anyone who does not have a dog and a white stick - and even they have their suspicions - that some wonderful plan has gone seriously belly up, we then get all the waffle about valuable lessons, excuses by the yard and the implication that we should all be dancing in the streets that the Government or council has done such a stunning job.

Take postal voting. If we had had a minuistry of common sense, an excellent suggestion from one of my readers, Hugh Jeego (I suspect not his/her* real name), then someone would have pointed out before the first form was printed that the system was an open invitation to some heavy duty fraud.

But that would have involved an admission of being wrong in the first place, so ahead they went. Someone whose salary is in inverse proportion to their brainpower decided that the reason for the scheme in the first place was to increase turnout at elections.

It didn't do that but it certainly did increase fraud to such an extent that first EU observers and now the Rowntree trust declare our elections are not up to international standards. It might not be Zimbabwe standards yet but it does tend to push us down from the summit of moral high ground when we castigate Mugabe for electoral fraud.

The system is flawed, we all knew it was flawed and once again come Thursday we will have bent elections and fraud throughout the land. I am not against postal votes but they should only be allowed where there is a compelling reason why a particular person should have one and not be given out like Smarties. As it is we will have the usual wads of votes handed in, filled in with the same pen and writing along with votes from the dead and people not seen this century but who are still on an out of date electoral roll.

As for increasing the turnout at elections . . . politicians have brought that upon themselves although personally I think not voting is a bit of a dereliction of duty, a denial of democracy, so I would like everyone with a vote to go to the polling station on Thursday. There is nothing in the rules that says you have to actually vote for someone, so If you really don't care who wins you are quite entitled to write your own personal message to politicians of all hues on your voting paper. My ambition is still to have a seat won by spoilt ballots.

*gender nonspecific to avoid accusations of sexual stereotyping and to show acceptance that the name Hugh, although seen as a male name in neo-modernist nomenclaturalist society, may also be seen as a declaration of femininity if she/he/it so desires - in a nonsexually orientated way.