Record numbers of illegal ‘family voting’ have taken place at the Gorton and Denton by-election, official observers have reported.
Official election observer group Democracy Volunteers says it witnessed the highest amount of family voting in its 10-year history.
They said they saw family voting in the majority (15 out of 22) of the polling stations they were at across the constituency, where there were 45 stations in total.
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What’s family voting?
Family voting is where two voters either confer, collude or direct each other on voting, which is illegal under the 2023 Ballot Secrecy Act.
Sky’s Anna Jones asked cabinet minister Heidi Alexander for her reaction to the statement by Democracy Volunteers.
She replied: “Clearly the reports that came in overnight are concerning. Elections must be conducted in line with electoral law.
“People should be able to vote in a free way and not subject to any coercion.
“And so it would be right that the appropriate authorities, including potentially the Electoral Commission, look into those reports.”
Who is the Democracy Volunteers group and what does it claim?
Democracy Volunteers are the only group, apart from the police, approved to stand inside a polling station.
They said they recorded 32 cases of family voting, with nine in one polling station alone.
The four observers spent between 30 and 45 minutes at each of those polling stations, and saw a sample of 545 voters casting their vote.
This means 12% of those voters either caused or were affected by family voting.
John Ault, director of Democracy Volunteers, said: “Today we have seen concerningly high…
