Regarding the voting rights of Republic of Ireland citizens, (Andrew Levens) this is a hang-over from the days before partition when there was still a large number of influential English persons working and owning large properties in the Republic. It was in order not to offend them that the right to vote was maintained. The "native" Irish were ultimately the main beneficiaries as it was not PC to exclude them.
The British of the North have protested against this right afforded to citizens of a foreign state for years.

J McKeown, Belfast, N. Ireland

Then clearly postal voting must be abandoned as it is corrupt.

If this government does not abandon postal voting then it shows they are completely and utterly corrupt and the Queen should dissolved the Parliament. Otherwise the Police should move in.

Jane, London, England

If the notion that an opinion poll taken of a handful of potential electors is a guide to the outcome of any election holds true - and broadly it does which is why we spend so much time and newsprint discussing said polls - then why do we care especially that the register of electors is not up to date? The random errors which it likely includes will do neither good nor harm to any of the parties contesting the election as it would be unlikely the opinions of the dead and those recently moving home for instance would deviate radically from the randomly polled samples used by pollsters. The question of fraudulently obtaining or casting votes is a serious matter, but that is for the courts to sort out. All we would really achieve by having as up to date a register of voters as possible, is a lot of work for registrars and a lot of cost for taxpayers.

David Bell, LARKHALL,

This subject is one of the most important issues that face us today and should be treated as such. Our whole trust in democracy and law and order relies on the view that the government or council is there because of the will of the people.
The reason given by the Labour party (John Prescott) for the introduction of postal voting was that it increased the voter participation. Is that votes, any votes, legitimate or not.??
It must be made to work properly or scrapped. If it isn’t, then we should draw the obvious conclusion that is has been kept in place for a more sinister cause.

Roger Calver, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

I am not going to register to vote! I do not see the point of my taking the trouble too, aside from Stalin enthusiast interior minister (yes, I know its not called that), and the banks requiring me too. The current lot are in power, or they are in some position of power, via a fraction of a fraction of the people having voted them in, sort off. And what are the alternatives? Loonies of one conviction or another, "special interest groups", and proffesional oportunists.
By the way, voting in what is supposed to be the highest order of human achievement is not a priviledge, its a right!

johnny, London,

Another compelling reason why we must have i.d. cards. Y

B.J. Carroll, Hong Kong, China

OK let's take these 'ghost voters' by category.
1) Illegal immigrants. should obviously be deported. Not very bright of them to register their address.
2) bogus voters. a less than useful phrase, what does it mean? Perhaps it means voters with barely any idea of the candidates they are voting for?
3) foreign residents. such as the Irish for example? But they have had voting rights for decades? (That's always puzzled me).
4) people with more than one address. Well if they want to vote that badly it's OK by me.
I'm more worried by the expansion of postal voting. It's obviously far more open to abuse, even when addresssed to valid registered voters.

andrew levens, swindon, uk

After the Labour "ballot factories" were uncovered some years ago, my wife and I applied for a postal vote not because we wanted one, but to make sure that nobody else applied for, and used, our vote.

A postal vote is always open to corruption, because there is no way of ensuring secrecy. A ballot cannot be bought or influenced, because in a booth with others (and, nowadays, with the Hong Kong experience in mind, mobile phones and cameras as well) excluded, there is no way of checking how the vote was cast. Electronic voting is easily fiddled by any competent IT specialist; even worse, only an IT specialist can check the honesty of the count.

While postal voting should always be available for those with a genuine need, there is really no alternative to a secret ballot and open counting.

As for compulsory voting - is there really no limit to the ways politicians dream up of fiddling themselves into power?

Michael Bruce, Selby, Yorkshire

Have Labour deliberatly set about the complete destruction of England?

Ben Moss, London,

Parties have destroyed our voting system. It was not designed to cope with party cartels but with individuals known to the electors, local candidates. What we have is TV-driven politics which is simply product advertising

ToMTom, Leeds, England

Seems to me that T Blair is getting a bit worried about the upcoming elections.

Time to bring out a few more 'Here's one I prepared earlier' exposes about the BNP in the Mirror or on the BBC methinks.

Please don't vote Labour folks!

Ben in New Zealand, Auckland,

The idea that people who don't vote don't deserve the vote because the can't be bothered, blames the public for the appalling conduct of the politicians. People have a right to vote, but what are they supposed to do if there are no candidates who deserve their support. It is not apathy that is the problem, but despair. Despair at the decay of democracy in the hands of devious and incompetent politicians and a superficial and sensationalist media. I see no way out, democracy is just becoming meaningless in this country. Don't say I should set up my own party. I don't want power, and it would be utterly pointless as I am not charismatic or sanguine enough for campaigning. I just want what I thought was my birthright - some decent democratic politicians to vote for.

Philip Cronin, Bedford,

Voting in this country was once a sacred cow, totally secure and solid as a rock. Under labour its gone to being likened to some 3rd world dictatorship. No wonder people think politicians are the scum of the earth.

Ron, Penrith, Cumbria

Why is there such an obsession with getting the highest turnout in polls? If you cannot be bothered to walk to your nearest polling station then you really don't deserve the privilege of voting. I do accept that a very small minority of people genuinely require postal votes, but if people in this country have, over the centuries, quite literally offered up their lives for the right to vote, the least we can ask of people today is that they match that sacrifice with a mild stroll. Please can we abandon this lunacy of mass postal voting?

Darren Ross, Sunderland, England