Alan Winchcombe who is urging voters to return their postal vote applications Picture: MATTHEW SWINGLER Ref: 76854-08ELECTORAL fraud on the scale committed in Birmingham could not happen in Swindon.

That is the message from the town's election officers who say they are confident they would spot any organised fraud in postal voting.

But Alan Winchcombe, Swindon's deputy acting returning officer, is urging people to apply for postal votes as soon as possible so the council can make as many checks as possible.

A High Court judge this week quashed the results of last year's local elections in two Birmingham wards after ruling there had been widespread fraud orchestrated by Labour party officials.

"The message is get applications in early," said Mr Winchcombe. "The sooner the better for the voters and to help us."

He said the law says councils should, if they have time, write to anyone who applies for a postal vote.

This is to guard against fraudsters asking for real voters' ballot papers to be sent to bogus addresses.

If the council writes to the voter at their home address to confirm the arrangement the voter can raise the alarm if they have not actually applied for a postal vote.

That process which is followed in Swindon would have prevented the fraud in Birmingham if followed there.

Birmingham also received many more postal vote applications than Swindon which this year expects about 15,000 which made the fraud harder to detect.

"We have got a team of experienced people dealing with the applications," said Mr Winchcombe.

"If there were hundreds of fraudulent applications coming in we would spot them."

The system led to a prosecution in Swindon in the early 1990s.

Post-election checks are also made to ensure the system is safe. About 500 of the 9,000 people who had postal votes for the European elections last year were questioned after the poll and no problems were found, Mr Winchcombe said.

But the council can only carry out checks if postal applications are received in good time.

Forms will be sent out with polling cards during the next week and, although the deadline for returning them is April 26, voters are urged to return them quickly.

Mr Winchcombe was speaking after Home Secretary Charles Clarke said new guidelines on tackling electoral fraud would be sent to returning officers and police this week.

Mr Clarke had met with Chris Fox, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers to discuss the issue after the judge in the Birmingham case said electoral fraud would continue unabated unless changes were quickly made.

Mr Winchcombe said a few people had cancelled their postal vote application since the Birmingham scandal was in the news but hundreds of applications arrived yesterday.

Anyone who does not receive a postal voting application by the end of next week should contact the council on 01793 463543 or email elecreg@swindon.gov.uk. The forms are also available to download from www.swindon.gov.uk.

The Swindon branch of the World Development Movement has organised an election question time meeting.

The group is inviting all the candidates standing in North and South Swindon to the meeting at 7.30pm on Tuesday, April 12, at the Friends Meeting House, Eastcott Hill.

Everyone is welcome to go along and question the candidates.

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Isabel Field