Thread by @fascinatorfun

In view of #DeniedMyVote in #EU19 this article demonstrating that the problem has been brewing for some time is a must read.

The system is creaking at the seams.

It has been long known that updating & maintaining an accurate register is the biggest issue theconversation.com/european-elect…

2/. There are may be problems in electoral administration in the UK, but impersonation fraud is not one of them.

Electoral Commission data show that, while there were 266 allegations of electoral fraud in the 2018 local elections, there had been only 1 conviction and 2 cautions

3/. – and none for impersonating another voter.

That from a register of c 21.5 million people.

4/. “The legal timetables for sending out such ballots were inevitably tight. And, when coupled with the vagaries of domestic and international postal systems, it was almost inevitable that some ballot papers would arrive too late.”

5/. The majority of councils had been carrying the burden of 2019 #LE19 elections.

Barely finished they had to gear up for the #EU19 and on an exceptionally tight timetable.

Then budget cuts on top of budget cuts.

6/. In research done for the EC # 2016 EU Ref, we found 43% of our respondents saying that they had insufficient funds to maintain their register. The short notice with which the European elections were called has inevitably driven up costs for both registration & administration.

7/. Instead of securing our democratic institutions, funding them properly, developing the necessary legislation and policing infrastructure the Government launched into the referendum (problems having been reported on in Select Committee in 2014) then #GE17.

8/. Any responsible Government & Parliament would be calling “Halt” not diverting £billions of public money into a disastrous project.

We need radical underpinning work.

Meanwhile the Electoral personnel bear the brunt of Government & Parl incompetence and cuts.

Voters pay.