So here we go then a former labour councillor has today been jailed for voter fraud.
Mohamed Hussain was jailed at preston court for fiddling the vote in Blackburn in 2002,he was given 3 +half yrs .
And they have the cheek to accuse other parties of dishonestly?:thumbsup:

Always good to see a severe sentence for a corrupt councillor.

It proves they're not above the law.

Vote rigging ex-councillor jailed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4425519.stm)

There's another case ongoing in Birmingham that also onvolves postal voting and Labour councillors.

Originally posted by Abdul
Always good to see a severe sentence for a corrupt councillor.

It proves they're not above the law.

Vote rigging ex-councillor jailed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4425519.stm)

I for one agree with you on this Abdul,I was going to put the link up but it wasnt on the site when I posted:confused:
Lets await to see if the 3 from Birmingham get the same treatment.:thumbsup:
Oh and did you see his majority? not that big was it.

Originally posted by royjames
I was going to put the link up but it wasnt on the site when I posted:confused:
Lets await to see if the 3 from Birmingham get the same treatment.:thumbsup:

The link wasn't on their main page; I had to drill down from UK -> England -> Lancashire from the main News page.


And I've just realised...this is in addition to the high-profile Birmingham case, isn't it:

Earlier this week, a judge in Birmingham said the UK's postal voting system would "disgrace a banana republic". :hihi:


Naughty Labour :nono:

Tell you what it does not fill me with confidence in the democratic process,Something has to be done to show the voters the system is safe.
Bloody labour are at it all over the place.:mad:

Originally posted by royjames
Tell you what it does not fill me with confidence in the democratic process,Something has to be done to show the voters the system is safe.
Bloody labour are at it all over the place.:mad:

Politicians corrupt Roy! never :o

The only thing that surprises me about it is that they have got caught, mind you compared to the other lot a few fiddled postal votes is chicken feed.

What other lot is this?

This lot look dodgy http://www.rotherhamtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=85&ArticleID=992206
:o

I can't see why Roy you have decided to start yet another political topic when AFAIK the Admin and Mods declared they didn't want it on Sheffield Forum?

Yes that is awful,whatever will happen next?
Watch this space we will soon be giving details of a major scandal in Rotherham. :thumbsup:

Originally posted by DaBouncer
I can't see why Roy you have decided to start yet another political topic when AFAIK the Admin and Mods declared they didn't want it on Sheffield Forum?


Because as the admin have said, as long as it is current then its ok.:thumbsup:

Yep, topical is ok. The main issue is that the General Chat forum remains general and doesn't get flooded with politically motivated posts. We will still merge/remove posts if we feel this whole 'topical' thing is being abused, but I don't believe that's the case with this thread - it's been all over the news the last week...

Any, lets keep on topic from now - thanks for checking...

Lets keep on track shall we? Now we know how comparitivly easy it is to fiddle the vote will it become even more common?
I expect the next one will be the Birmingham 3,I hope they get a decent prison sentence if found guilty.
At this rate labour might have to recruit for more candidates:hihi:

A shocking abuse of the democratic process. This guy deserved a severe sentence.

I just typed the words DISGRACED COUNCILLOR into google...
:o :suspect: :o
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=disgraced+councillor&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

It doesn't bode well for any party :rolleyes:

Well I never realised just how many are bent,I must be naive .
Mind you I did not see any of (our lot) in there.:thumbsup:
I suppose the temptation just proved too much for the latest one to be convicted,postal voting is very suspect now.
As a activist it makes you think why bother if the system is flawed.:confused:

Originally posted by royjames
Mind you I did not see any of (our lot) in there.:thumbsup:
No... but I seem to remember seeing your lot on TV this weekend because the leader was in court for inciting racial hatred... in fact so what the secretary of the party.
Funny how the scottish national party seem to be able to pull off the way a proper political party is supposed to behave yet the British National Party seem to just come across as racist thugs.

Well that's the impression I get!

Originally posted by DaBouncer
No... but I seem to remember seeing your lot on TV this weekend because the leader was in court for inciting racial hatred... in fact so what the secretary of the party.
Funny how the scottish national party seem to be able to pull off the way a proper political party is supposed to behave yet the British National Party seem to just come across as racist thugs.

Well that's the impression I get!


Getting back on topic again I thought the sentence he got was appropiate,maybe those who feel the need to fiddle will think again after this.;)

These 'guilty' people are not doing much of a job to represent their communities - both highlighted cases in Blackburn and Brum have both been of 'asian origin' in predominently 'asian populated areas' which doesn't really do much for promoting 'the good things coming out of these communities' does it?

Perhaps thats why the media seek to highlight these occurances. Not that I'm saying that they shouldn't be reported but that balance is needed for the sakes of these communities and for the general population at large.

Well I wasnt going to comment on the fact they are asian,but the fact is they are.
I dont want to deviate from the topic so will leave it at that.
But on topic I wonder how many people have actually got away with this kind of thing in the past?
I would also imagine that there will have to be another election in Blackburn now.:thumbsup:

roy, as an activist you must know that there are no party or ethnic lines when it comes to electoral fraud.

What leaves me dumfounded in this case is the sheer scale of what these people were undertaking.

Before anyone thinks I'm condoning any sort of electoral fraud nothing could be further from the truth. In the past, when I've been asked to do proxy votes for people, I've had to drive around to pick up other people to do them as I have already cast the 2 that the law allows.

Of course the people who fiddle the system are all races and creeds and I condem them all.
But again as someone who walks bloody miles and does more than my share for the partyit really makes my blood boil that this kind of thing goes on.
Why dont the goverment listen to the electoral commision and put on hold postal voting till its all sorted?

I agree with that comment Roy. TB and his cronies when they get back into power after this election ought to hold their hands up and say they tried it but it didn't work, and that postal ballots would be suspended until a better and foolproof way was found to stop this kind of fraud.

Hang on Owdlad......my 87yr. aunt in Nottingham relies on her postal vote. My disabled neighbour relies on her postal vote. I also have a postal vote. In fact, millions of people rely on a postal vote. Are you suggesting that everyone who has a postal vote should now be disenfranchised because of the crimininal activities of a councillor? Bit of a knee-jerk reaction on your part owdlad.

The Electoral Commission has never recommended the suspension or cancellation of postal votes. They have though recommended additional safeguards. They also commented in their recent report that the amount of election fraud committed through abuse of the postal vote system is extremely low. Any candidate found committing any kind of election fraud is likely to end up in prison, as this current court case amply demonstrates.

Voting in person is not secure. Anyone can turn up at a polling station, claim to be someone else, and vote in that person's name. No ID is required to vote, and it is not a legal requirement to show a polling card. It is illegal of course, and it's called personation, but it happens. Using your logic owdlad, voting in person should also be suspended until a more water-tight system can be introduced.

There are additional safeguards that could be introduced, for both postal votes and voting in person. Please write to your MP* to voice your concerns. (*but you'll have to wait until after the general election, as there won't be any MPs from Monday oinwards).

Originally posted by redrobbo

Voting in person is not secure. Anyone can turn up at a polling station, claim to be someone else, and vote in that person's name. No ID is required to vote, and it is not a legal requirement to show a polling card. It is illegal of course, and it's called personation, but it happens. Using your logic owdlad, voting in person should also be suspended until a more water-tight system can be introduced.

There are additional safeguards that could be introduced, for both postal votes and voting in person. Please write to your MP* to voice your concerns. (*but you'll have to wait until after the general election, as there won't be any MPs from Monday oinwards). Voting in person is more secure though. You have to do it face to face, and if you turned up 200 and odd times they might just notice, whereas stealing postal votes is more anonymous. I agree postal votes have their role, but I think it should be the exception rather than the rule, and I objected strongly to being given no choice but to vote by post.

algy - you were not alone in objecting to not having a choice in the method of voting for the Euro and local elections last June. The all postal ballot was though a pilot scheme. It did increase voter participation.

For a lot of people though, postal voting is a necessity. I once had to be in Cardiff on urgent work-related business. By the time I got back, I'd missed being able to vote by 10 minutes. This was the only time in my life that I've not been able to vote. I now have a postal vote.

15% of the electorate now have a postal vote. They include the elderly, infirm, disabled, housebound, and people with busy lives - working shifts, working away from home, carers. If you are going to make postal votes the exception rather than the rule, kindly tell me which of these catagories you would refuse to exempt.

I repeat, the solution to fraudulently voting (in person or postal vote) is to provide increased safeguards, not to restrict choices in the methods of voting.

Originally posted by algy
Voting in person is more secure though. You have to do it face to face, and if you turned up 200 and odd times they might just notice, whereas stealing postal votes is more anonymous. I agree postal votes have their role, but I think it should be the exception rather than the rule, and I objected strongly to being given no choice but to vote by post.

Point taken Robbo, and algy is right that if the same faces keep appearing even the most bored of electoral officers are going to take notice. I can see no way around it apart from perhaps some form of picture id on the voting slip.

The next bridge to cross will be on line voting!

Originally posted by redrobbo
A shocking abuse of the democratic process. This guy deserved a severe sentence. wouldnt call it severe as he will only do half of the sentance should have been a lot longer...is vote rigging classed as treason to the state? or does treason only effect the crown ?

Yes, it's not Postal Voting that's a bad idea. It's /compulsory/ postal voting where voters have no chioce and hundreds of thousands of envelopes marked 'steal me'.... sorry, 'ballot paper' are floating around the postal system.

What a great news, it is nice to hear that something good is going on in your country. There is a lot of eastern europe countries where goverment do what it wants.
the wosrt is that there is no way to change it!!!

Strange is it not, that [Blunkett's recent antics aside] Labour scandals usually revolve around money and/or vote rigging, and Tory scandals are usually about sex? Sex, one reflects, makes fools of us all. With that in mind, I have more sympathy for the Tories. Not that I am in any way biased, of course.

The sentence is well deserved here. I, for one, cannot wait to read about the forthcoming Rotherham scandal. Perhaps there are lots more scandals in this 'young' and 'cool' country of ours, but the government does not wish to worry us?

Archer, Aitkins & Hamilton, were their infringments in any way related to sex?

Polish lady you seem to be agreeing with my point about coruption,nice to have another view from a different quarter.:thumbsup:
The scandal which is going on in Rotherham is at this moment being investigated by some of (our ) lot and it will be exposed shortly.
Lets just say this involves that old chestnut MONEY.;)

Originally posted by max
Archer, Aitkins & Hamilton, were their infringments in any way related to sex? I think Archer was? Didn't he commit perjury in a libel action against a newspaper which reported he'd been with a prostitute?

Max,
One is speaking generally, dear heart. Don't split hairs...I'd send you a 'smiley' if I knew how to, by the way.

Now then Timo, what was the Tory scandal in Westiminster about, you know, the one involving Dame Shirley Porter............

Er, well, Longcol, that is a question I fully intend, to, er, answer in the, er, fullness of time, er...

I take it you mean no Labour monopoly on financial corruption / vote rigging (this case had both, big style).

Do I? Well, my honourable friend, I did say 'usually' didn't I?

Originally posted by timo
Do I? Well, my honourable friend, I did say 'usually' didn't I?

Perhaps you should have said unusually. :D Ooh look, a smiley.



:D Oh, another.


Damn, I just can't stop.:D

Im sure he wont be the last Labour crook to go to jail.
Old parties are corupt and bent to the core.

Max,
You are a cruel man, aren't you? You know that I can't work out how to send smileys, and you mock me like this. What a vale of tears this forum is becoming...

Especially for people who make assertions that they can't back up Timo.

Longcol,
You are the one who is rattled though, underneath the surface, are you not? As is Maxy Baby- still smarting from my anti-Prescott jibes. Ho Ho Ho.

Now that Dame Shirley Potter scandal...............biggest ever fraud in local government (about £42 million).

Wasn't the minister with responsibility for local government at the time a certain Michael Howard?

Oh you mean the one where the Tory council sold homes cheaply to tory voters? Gerrymandering? I remember it well. Then Dame Shirley Porter went to live in Israel where she claimed she had no money (sure).

I hear she coughed up!

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
I hear she coughed up!

Yeah - only twelve million quids worth :roll:

That still left Westminster council £30million out of pocket.

Council under fire for Dame Shirley deal (http://society.guardian.co.uk/housing/news/0,,1370104,00.html)