Postal vote fraud update (Birmingham Liberal Democrats)

Birmingham Liberal Democrats <info@birminghamlibdems.org.uk>

Postal vote fraud update

August 12, 2004 3:26 PM

Birmingham Liberal Democrats have planning to ask the High Court to force Birmingham City Council to provide copies of the postal vote application forms and witness statements so they can establish the levels of abuse in this years Local Elections.

Ayoub Khan, former Councillor for Aston said "We have written to the chief executive for access to the postal vote application forms and the statutory declaration forms. She passed the letter to the chief legal officer who passed it on to the council's solicitors in London. This is going around in a circle."

Ayoub Khan added: "Some residents in Aston have confirmed that individuals have been signing a mass number of statutory declarations as witnesses. We want to verify that but the only way is to check the statutory declarations. We can then go to individual houses and ask if people said to have voted by post really did so and whether witness signatures were valid. We have been told between 200-300 ballot papers and statutory declarations were filled in by one individual. We have details of this individual and want to verify it."

An election petition has been submitted to the High Court to overturn the Aston result. Ayoub Khan and the Liberal Democrats are now collating all the evidence to ensure the Court can make a fair and just decision.