Police have promised to investigate evidence of illegal voting by families local elections after it was exposed by the Daily Mail.
West Midlands Police said it would work with the Electoral Commission watchdog Birmingham The city council, England’s largest town hall, will review the file containing claims by polling staff about widespread attempts to influence voters.
A spokesperson for the force told this newspaper: ‘We will assess any new information that has come to light and will work with Birmingham City Council and the Electoral Commission as part of the assessment process.’
Action was taken after the Mail revealed that attempts had been made at 50 different polling stations in Birmingham to break the secret ballot.
The local government has compiled reports from presiding officials showing that they had to repeatedly tell voters that it is against the law to get into a booth with someone else or tell them which candidate to choose.
One man was said to be ‘constantly trying’ to influence voters, while another was accused of ‘influencing the vote’ through ‘Islamic gestures, eye blinking, hand gestures’.
Voters also became ‘aggressive’ and ‘rude’ when they were told not to talk to each other in polling booths.
Conservative peer Lord Hayward, who introduced the 2023 law making it an offense to try to influence voting at polling booths, said other authorities should also investigate behavior in recent elections.
Birmingham City Council is at the center of claims of illegal household voting during the May elections
He said: ‘We must ensure that the vote takes place in secret and that local councils should have already looked at the reports of the polling station chairmen to know what problems they faced in May.
‘While it is right that the police investigate extreme cases or where polling station officials have been intimidated, the responsibility lies heavily with local councils and the electoral commission.
‘Manchester in particular should release their polling station reports in May. If Birmingham faced this level of difficulty, many other areas almost certainly did too, including during the recent Gorton & Denton by-election.”
The Electoral Commission said: ‘We will provide support if requested, but as police are currently investigating this matter we cannot comment further at this stage.’
