Electoral chiefs have issued a strongly-worded criticism of the Government's handling of sweeping changes introduced at the May council elections.

The Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) has said anti-vote fraud measures were not adequately tested and substantially increased their workload.

In particular the AEA is calling for swift action on: tightening deadlines on registration and the closing of nominations; extra powers for returning officers to deal with incorrect postal vote statements; a funding boost for electoral services; and the establishment of a high-level group to discuss electoral services delivery and any future law changes.

The report was met with varied reactions in Bradford which has a chequered history in terms of alleged election fraud.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Bradford Council, Jeanette Sunderland, said: "I am disappointed to see that the issue of registration is not being tackled. The register is hopelessly out of date. If this was addressed it would stop late registration.

"What measures are being taken to prevent postal vote abuse? This is taking place across the political parties and across the country. We have a situation at the moment where people are choosing not to register to vote so they will not be harassed and intimidated."

Councillor Kris Hopkins, the Conservative leader of Bradford Council, said: "It is very disturbing to learn that warnings given by the AEA to ministers and their officials in advance of the local elections were ignored.

"Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democratic system and must be protected at all costs, including financial. I hope the Government takes the concerns expressed in this report very seriously and acts on them without delay."

Ian Greenwood, Labour group leader on the Council said: "I think the number of staff available should be adjusted to be adequate at an election, not the other way around. We need to ensure that police and local authorities take action in cases of where fraud is alleged. There are still cases outstanding from four years ago.

"I do feel sorry for the election administrators because they are stuck in the middle but the reality is that the resources should be made available at election time and action needs to be taken where alleged fraud is discovered."

Tony Reeves, chief executive of the Council and the returning officer, said: "Bradford welcomed the introduction of new security measures to handle postal voting at the May 2007 elections. It has helped build public confidence in the electoral system.

"However, the changes were introduced at short notice. The AEA report highlights some of the difficulties that were faced by authorities around the country and which were pointed out to the Ministry of Justice and the Association of Electoral Administrators at the time.

"We will carefully consider the findings of the report and will continue to work to ensure successful elections across the district in the future."

During May's elections in Bradford there were numerous allegations of postal vote fraud, intimidation and treating' or voter bribery. And last year there were claims voters were forced to hand over unmarked ballot papers prior to the local elections.

Also in 2005 City Councillor Jamshed Khan and Manningham Councillor Reis Khan were arrested in separate raids into voting irregularities.

The Crown Prosecution Service has been reviewing police files on 13 people, including those two, as part of the country's biggest inquiry into vote-rigging.

  • Start or join a debate on this issue in our online forum - Click here