The Government said today that it was ready to accept most of the recommendations in a report on cutting fraud in postal voting.
It welcomed an Electoral Commission report, out this morning, which calls for a halt to experiments in all-postal voting, and lists reforms 'essential' to retain public confidence in the electoral system.
The elections watchdog's report, called Securing The Vote, comes soon after a general election marred by allegations of postal voting fraud. Sam Younger, the chairman of the Commission, told a press conference that he hoped that the Government would accept the report's findings as a cohesive whole, rather than cherry-pick the bits it liked.
"We do see them as a package which hangs together, not simply a menu from which you can pick a certain number as you like," he said. He also hoped that running elections and cross-checking details on the electoral roll would in future be properly funded.
The Commission's report says that the traditional method of voting in person at polling stations should remain "the foundation of our voting system". Over time, voters should be allowed to choose other ways of casting their ballot, such as voting by post or using new technology. "However, we believe that changes to improve the security and reliability of postal voting on demand are essential to secure its future as part of the electoral process," says the report.
"All-postal voting should not be pursued for use at future statutory elections or referendums in the UK, and the option of sending ballot papers automatically to every registered elector should not be pursued."
All-postal voting was trialled last year for one third of voters in local and European elections. There were widespread reports of fraud, leading to a series of court cases.
During the June 2004 elections in Birmingham, which used postal voting and traditional polling booths, the judge said that postal ballots were "wide open to abuse". Mr Justice Richard Mawrey, QC, said he had heard evidence which would "disgrace a banana republic".
The general election was the first since changes to electoral law which resulted in a fourfold increase in the number of postal voters. Hundreds of police investigations are now under way into possible fraud, with allegations of ballot papers being stolen, altered or fraudulently applied for.
A spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs said today that the Government had never intended to repeat last year's problematic experiment in all-postal voting. He promised that a Bill would be put through Parliament to reform the voting system before the local elections next June.
One of the key areas today's report focuses on is checking the genuineness of applications to be placed on the electoral register, and to obtain a postal vote. Under the current system, the head of household fills in a form listing everyone at the same address, for the electoral register.
Today's report says that in future, individuals should each fill in their own form to be included on the electoral register, adding their signature and date of birth as identifying details. Postal vote applications should also include those details, so that electoral registration officers can check postal vote applications against the electoral roll.
In addition, application forms for postal votes should be sent direct to the electoral registration officer or to a central sorting house operated independently of political parties, said the Commission. There were complaints during the election campaign that party workers were offering to collect applications from voters and submit them en masse.
The Commission also called for new offences designed to prevent fraud. In future it should be a crime to fail to supply information to an electoral registration officers, and to make a fraudulent application for a postal vote. Police should be able to arrest anyone impersonating another voter at a polling station, and the law should be clarified on what constitutes applying undue influence to a voter.
The deadline for registering to vote should be extended from six to 11 working days before polling day in a parliamentary election, said the report. The same date should be the deadline for applying for a postal vote, after complaints that the current six-day deadline was too short for electoral packs to be sent out to the growing number of voters wanting to cast their ballot by post.
The changes proposed in the report were "essential measures to secure the future of postal voting", said the Commission.
A spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs said the Government would be studying the Commission's findings closely. "It's clear that there is a large measure of agreement between us," said the spokesman.
"For example, we have already pledged to bring in a new offence of falsely applying for a postal vote, have agreed to increase the time administrators have to check ballots and have agreed to introduce individual identifiers like a signature and date of birth.
"We will introduce a Bill as soon as parliamentary time allows and in the meantime will be discussing with our stakeholders how best to take forward the key measures needed to improve security."
The Government however still believes that it is better for the head of household to fill in the form for the electoral register, and to ask other members of the household to add their signature and date of birth.
Alex Folkes, of the Electoral Reform Society, said that the society felt individual voters should fill in their own registration form, and welcomed the report's plea for proper funding to administer and run elections. "It is imperative that the public have confidence in the integrity of the system, and that will only happen if someone has the duty and resources to undertake proper checks," he said.
Oliver Heald, the Shadow Constitutional Affairs Secretary, also backed individual registration. He said: "After the collapse in public confidence in postal voting, Labour must now return to the ballot box as the foundation of our democracy."
