Forum Topic

Are votes still private

I was concerned this morning to find that my vote is traceable back to me and would have thought this is in breach of good electoral practice.  I am used to polling clerks ticking off a manifest to ensure no perceived double votes. However they then went on to write the polling number on a sequential sheet which seemed to match the number of the ballot slips which had a barcode number.Electronic tracking is fine for total vote count verification - if it works more reliably than good manual counts but where there are lists there can be traces.Thankfully we live in the UK and not somewhere like Zimbabwe where election participation can be a dangerous matter.Any others feel this way or know more on this?Look forward to the results for London which begin counting tomorrow morning and figure it will be close for Mayor and interesting for Assembly posts.

Colin Izzard ● 6727d1 Comments

"I was concerned this morning to find that my vote is traceable back to me and would have thought this is in breach of good electoral practice."Votes have been traceable ever since the secret ballot was introduced in 1872.  It's part of the audit trail to ensure the integrity of the process.  It does of course rely on officials not breaching the secrecy regulations, for which the penalty is a fine of up to £5000 or 6 months in prison.

Richard Jennings ● 6727d