Family voting may be a new term that many voters have not heard and did not know was illegal
Family voting is illegal in the UK(Image: PA)
Recent controversy has surrounded the latest UK by-election in Greater Manchester after election observer group, Democracy Volunteers said they had witnessed “concerningly high levels of family voting” at the polling stations.
By-election officials shared their anger as they did not receive reports of these issues throughout the day and questioned why the group had not raised the serious allegations sooner. Democracy Volunteers said it had seen family voting in 12% of polling stations during the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Nigel Farage has reported allegations to Greater Manchester Police and the Electoral Commission and has called for an investigation into reports by independent election observers of “extremely high” levels of family voting.
The group said it had seen the “highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10-year history of observing elections in the UK” at the vote on Thursday that saw Green take the lead. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here
John Ault, director of Democracy Volunteers, said: “Today we have seen concerningly high levels of family voting in Gorton and Denton. Based on our assessment of today’s observations, we have seen the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10-year history of observing elections in the UK.
“We rarely issue a report on the night of an election, but the data we have collected today on family voting, when compared to other recent by-elections, is extremely high.”
But what is family voting?
Family voting is when family members enter a voting booth together and collude or direct the vote.
The Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 made the practice illegal to stop people from watching family members while they were voting, seeing what they write on the ballot and sometimes guiding them on how to vote.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “We can confirm a report has been made. We are in the process of reviewing this report and will provide a further update in due course.”
Reform UK were beaten into second place by the Green Party at the by-election but Farage has claimed it was “a victory for sectarian voting and cheating”.
In a statement, he said: “Reform has today reported the many cases of ‘family voting’ to the Electoral Commission and the police.
“What was witnessed yesterday is deeply concerning and raises serious questions about the integrity of the democratic process in predominantly Muslim areas.
“If this is what was happening at polling stations just imagine the potential for coercion with postal votes.
“If action isn’t taken now, then we will ensure it is after the next general election.”
The Green Party has hit back at Reform’s criticisms, with a spokesman saying: “This is an attempt to undermine the democratic result and is straight out of the Trump playbook.
“We’ve just won a historic by-election by a comfortable margin.
“We’ve shown the country that Greens can beat Reform, despite their big business donations.”
