The not-so-secret ballot

Everybody knows that we here in the good old United Kingdom enjoy the freedoms of a great democracy, one of which is the freedom to vote for who we want to.

Now, one of the great things about this is that there is no-one who will ever be able to tell who we voted for; the ballot is secret, and is for most elections: general, local, european etc.

It seems that Electoral Reform Services has yet to receive this message. I returned from Riley’s on Monday to find my Conservative Future elections ballot papers to find the declaration (requiring both a sugnature and a printed name) on the same bit of paper! And guess what, “unsigned ballot papers will not be counted”.

CF has said that “the CF elections are still a secret ballot despite having a signed declaration of identity on the ballot. This is normal practice by ERS to ensure that only eligible members vote. When ballots are returned, ERS will check names against the electoral roll and any duplication before removing the identities.”

But hang on, on the incorrect instructions on the letter from CF, there are supposed to be two envelopes: one for the ballot papers, which goes in the other one along with the declaration. Why couldn’t they have actually done it that way and avoid a lot of confusion in the instructions and apprehension for revealing your identity on a secret ballot?