Ok The Conspiracy Theories Are Off And Running.....postal Votes...etc

[ToraToraTora]

A few sour grape whinners about but I don't think for a minute there was anything remotely bent about the Scottish referendum though it does highlight an issue. Personally I don't think postal votes should be allowed. If you don't care enough to go and vote then you don't deserve to vote in my opinion.

[fairycakes69]

I cared enough to organise a postal vote, as we were away when the referendum took place. It takes more time to organise one than it does to go and vote at a polling station.

[ichkeria]

I don't understand: how can postal voters be "lazy"? Surely if you go to the trouble of applying for a postal vote then you are the opposite of lazy

[Obiter]

I have had a postal vote since 1972 and I was not disabled. I simply was living away from home.

[Zacs-Master]

I see TTT hasn't posted for a while. I think the first few answers put him back in his box.

[EDDIE51]

^^ yes there were other reasons for a postal vote pre 2001 but the point is that now it is right available to anyone rather than having to apply for it and having to give a reason why you needed it.

[jno]

I have a postal vote. I asked for it because I wanted to vote, not because I didn't.

It was striking, though, that even after postal voting began, party leaders were allowed to continue to pile on the bribes. Is that right? I think once voting begins, campaigning should stop.

[weecalf]

What would bother me about the poll was why did those in politics dictate the agenda .If it was just the good peoples personal opinion would the result have been different?

[ladybirder]

Good point jno. It seems unfair. But will it happen?

[Zacs-Master]

Who would you have dictate the agenda other than those elected by the 'good people'?

[New Judge]

"...they are for people who do "care enough to go and vote", but are otherwise engaged or not so able to make it to the ballot box."

"There are numerous valid reasons for a postal vote:- "

There now need be no valid reason for requesting a postal vote, agchristie and jim. They have been available on demand since 2001. A brief precis (which is not my work) of the evolution of postal votes in the UK:

Absent voting [which is what postal voting was first termed] was first introduced for the immediate post-war period in 1918 for servicemen and others prevented ‘by reason of the nature of their occupation…from voting at a poll’. These facilities were gradually expanded to include people in various occupations or those with disabilities to vote by post.

In 1983, in its review of electoral law, the Home Affairs Select Committee criticised the categories of absent voters who were allowed to vote by post. The Committee made clear that they would not wish absent voting facilities to be made available to everybody on demand but recommended that ‘the Home Office should review the existing criteria for eligibility for absent voting facilities, and in particular we suggest that it would be permissible to apply for a postal vote due to absence “by reason of employment”, without the necessity to distinguish between one type of employment or another. The Representation of the People Act 1985 subsequently made provision for these extensions to the right to apply for an absent vote.

By 1999 the system of postal and proxy voting for those unable to vote at polling stations was seen as cumbersome and complex. A Working Party on Electoral Procedures chaired by George Howarth, Minister of State at the Home Office, published its report in October 1999. The working party recommended that:

- Absent voting should be allowed on demand
- The application and voting procedures for absent voting should be simplified

The Representation of the People Act 2000 implemented the Howarth report’s recommendations. The Representation of the People (England & Wales) Regulations 2001 introduced the changes to the absent voting arrangements from 16 February 2001. The main change was to allow postal voting on demand.

[weecalf]

Was it about politics or the people of Scotland wanting independence .If it was political it could have been sorted in Parliament.

[SirOracle]

Er weecalf....which Parlaiment ?

[Zacs-Master]

I don't think you can separate the two weecalf. Ying and yang.

[weecalf]

The politics of it was highlighted .Davy would resign, gordies great comeback .Alex resigning . It was about Scotland was it not .

[Old_Geezer]

One has a right to vote, and a right not to; and the method for voting ought not be an issue provided any new way is at least as secure as the others. Hopefully one day we'll just log in and vote (preferably on issues rather than electing an elite, so they all are referendums of sorts).

[Farriercm]

TTT / I don,t think postal votes should be allowed/. Advice from the
Brains Trust???.

[ToraToraTora]

no, zacs, not in the box, as usual you and others pick up the few exceptions that go without saying. I'm talkng about the masses.

[janbee]

I had a postal vote for many years as I was travelling so much for work When I retired, I cancelled my postal vote.

[Slapshot]

....and of course your standard sweeping generalisations are okay as usual... but that goes without saying too

[Svejk]

there should be a general knowledge test on the back of the voting form. And only register the votes of 'passers'.
A meritocracy, if you like. (is that right?)