EU CITIZENS VOTING VOTE IN THE UK BRITAIN

EU CITIZENS MAY BE RECEIVING TWO BALLOT PAPERS FOR ELECTIONS

How many citizens of other EU countries were able to receive two ballot papers at the 10th June 2004 EU elections in the UK? How many were able to receive one from their own Embassy and one from their Election Office in Britain? How many voted twice? What will be done to close this loophole? It is not clear from the report below, whether the ballot paper received from the Spanish Embassy was for the vote in Spain -- which would be in addition to the ballot paper received from the Election Office in Edinburgh, for the vote in Scotland -- or whether both ballot papers were for the Scottish vote.

SPANIARD IN CAPITAL FLAGS UP EURO POLL VOTE LOOPHOLE
Evening News (Edinburgh)
Thursday 17 June 2004, p. 13.

A SPANISH national living in Edinburgh has exposed a loophole in our voting system which he claims could sway future elections.

Joan Trias, 26, who has lived in Edinburgh for more than a year, obtained ballot forms from both the Spanish Embassy and a returning officer in Scotland which gave him two votes in the recent European elections.

He voted twice, without being challenged by electoral staff, despite strict rules that individuals are only entitled to one vote.

TRUST
It has emerged that electoral agencies trust individuals not to vote twice, especially people registered to vote in two places like foreign visitors and students.

Mr Trias said: "It's vital that this is exposed and something is done about it immediately to prevent it happening in the future."

Electoral chiefs have admitted the current system needs tightening up and revealed they are looking to implement measures to prevent fraud.

Officials from the Electoral Commission said they had no way to measure electoral fraud in the UK. But they warned it could lead to a police investigation.