And it is now feasible that Travellers for instance, could be persuaded to register in a certain area in order to swing a vote. There are no restrictions or checks on large numbers of people registering at the same place as homeless as long as they make the requisite unprovable declarations. This provision of the Act which makes the possibility of moving voters around for electoral purposes a real one constitutes an outrageous breach of public trust. The most significant loophole, however, concerns postal votes. While proxy voting is also covered here, it is more or less obsolete except for those who will be overseas at election time.
Students commonly receive two polling cards, one at university and one at home.
Until now, however, you would have had to be energetic, as well as dishonest, to have made use of the second vote. In the forthcoming election there will be absolutely no practical check on people who have been registered in two different areas. It will be simple to establish illegally either or both votes as postal ballots for an indefinite period. Recently, advertisements have begun to appear on Channel 4, aimed specifically at young people who do not vote, and at a particular kind of person who does not vote, at that, suggesting that they apply for one of these postal votes. These are leading advertisements which feature a nightclub full of trendy youths, with a hip-hop music background.