Vince Cable

A local young man, voting for the first time in the London elections, was stunned to discover when he went to vote with his mother and father that someone had already cast his vote.

Despite his producing his voting car, and his mother and father confirming that he had not voted already, he was refused a vote. He came to see MP Vincent Cable to see how he could protest and Vincent Cable has written to the Constitutional Affairs minister to point out that the current system is wide open to abuse by impersonation, without even the most perfunctory checks of ID: "it isn't the best way to encourage young people to participate in the democratic process, if they can be so easily cheated out of their vote. There has been a great deal of concern about the fraud involve din postal voting, less attention is paid to the dangers of multiple voting and impersonation at the polling station. We have a system which depends on trust and honesty which is admirable but perhaps unrealistic. In this case a few odd votes would make no difference but in a closely fought council or parliamentary election they could be decisive. I have therefore contacted the constitutional affairs minister to ask what safeguards could be introduced.