London: Voters should be required to show proof of identity at polling stations, the UK election watchdog has said in a report that has been welcomed by the government. The Electoral Commission has concluded that a further tightening of the rules is necessary to restore public confidence following fears of ballot-rigging. At present, voters do not need to produce ID or even a polling card to vote as long as they have registered and know their address.

The commission also said it is looking into concerns that some South Asian communities are particularly susceptible to electoral fraud. Sixteen local authority areas all in England have received large numbers of complaints of vote-rigging.

At-risk areas include Birmingham, the scene of a notorious ballot-rigging case in 2004, which the presiding judge said would “disgrace a banana republic”. Others on the list are Blackburn, Bradford, Burnley, Calderdale, Coventry, Derby, Hyndburn, Kirklees, Oldham, Pendle, Peterborough, Slough, Tower Hamlets, Walsall and Woking. Most, but not all of these areas have large Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities.

The commission said it would ask electoral registration officers, returning officers and police forces in those areas to put in place suitable measures before the next set of local and European elections in May.

Code of conduct

In its report into electoral fraud in the UK, the commission has rejected calls to restrict access to postal voting which has been at the centre of many allegations saying it would prevent many innocent people from voting. However, it said the existing code of conduct needed to be strengthened to ensure campaigners did not handle postal votes or application forms. It warned that it would seek legislation if the problem was not resolved voluntarily.

It called for the law requiring voters to produce proof of identity before being issued with a ballot paper to be in place by 2019 at the latest. This is already the case in Northern Ireland.

A Cabinet Office spokesman welcomed the report: “By requiring identification information such as date of birth and National Insurance number, we can verify that everyone on the register is who they say they are. This is vital, as we create a register in which everyone can be fully confident and which reduces the risk of fraud and duplication.”