UK voters fear election fraud

The UK public is losing faith in the integrity of general elections with more than a third of voters concerned about election fraud.

The greatest concerns focus on the proposed introduction of more high-tech methods of voting which will lose a demonstrable 'paper trail'.

Technologies such as SMS, digital television and the internet have all been proposed for e-voting and trials have already taken place in the UK with 70 per cent of respondents to a recent MORI poll saying they are aware of such advances.

Of those polled, 56 per cent said such technologies would make fraud easier to commit – with SMS most commonly perceived as prone to fraud (by 74 per cent) and email (66 per cent) a close second. However, the one silver lining on this otherwise bleak picture for high-tech voting is a likely decrease in voter apathy and consequent higher turnouts, particularly among the young.

Almost half the voters aged between 18 and 34 said they would be more likely to vote if they could do so by text.

David Porter, head of security and risk at Detica, who commissioned the research, said the recent rigged and re-run ballot in the Ukraine and consecutive controversial US presidential elections will have played a part in knocking voter confidence in the UK.

Porter told silicon.com: "This is certainly a double-edged sword. The [UK] government wants to get more voters out and taking part in elections but there must be no compromise where security or electoral integrity are concerned. There are certainly some dangers if the government jumps on this too quickly.

"I believe a widespread move to e-voting is inevitable but we must ensure the right checks and balances are in place."

However, Porter added that voters are perhaps now also starting to see the general fallibility in the offline polling system too where verification is certainly disproportionately lax compared to other social transactions.

Porter said it is worrying that no formal identification document is required when voters present themselves at a polling station and yet the same person may be required to present three forms of ID just to register at their local Blockbuster video store.

More than half of respondents to the MORI poll (58 per cent) believe ID cards will provide an answer to this particular problem.

And certainly it will take a while to wean many off traditional polling systems.

"There is something about a paper trail of ballot papers which feels like a lot more of a robust system," Porter said.