Ross – “In terms of how this was rigged…” Are you suggesting that rigging is accomplished at the count itself? This would surly involve the Returning Officer’s compliance, but it would be out of the control of Idox and haphazard at best. I think that the system used would need to be far more predictable than that, accomplished at an earlier point within Idox controlled facilities and done to fulfil a precise substitute order for each constituency. Once the ballot boxes reach the count postal votes are mixed in with boxes from polling stations so they are not tallied separately.
What I have been told so far is that the outer envelope containing a postal vote is opened and subjected to a verification process to insure the signature and date of birth match those kept on record. There are rumours of large numbers being rejected at this stage, but the inner “A” envelope containing the ballot is the real prize. The “A” envelops carry a number with a matching number on the ballot itself. These envelops are opened in batches at opening sessions where candidate representatives and observers may attend, but ballot papers are kept face down and not meant to be seen or counted.
My question to the Electoral Commission, the one that has remained unanswered, where and under whose protection are the unopened ballot envelopes stored until a batch is ready for opening? If they remain under Idox control during this period then it would be quite simple for a duplicate batch of “A” envelopes to be printed up and substituted for the originals before the opening session. Due to the volume needed and to keep knowledge of the fix to a minimum this would have to be an automated process, from envelope to inserting completed ballot paper and sealed it closed.
The opening sessions are where the illegally obtained information regarding results has allegedly been seen and leaked to the media on a number of occasions. I think that is the excuse given, but the real data comes from knowing how many rigged ballot papers were substituted for the genuine votes cast. At the opening session the ballot papers are put into a ballot box for delivering to the count; these boxes are supposed to be sealed. Candidates or their representatives are able to add an additional seal to the ballot box so they it is harder to tamper with the ballots after this stage.
The counted ballots are then stored for one year, not sure where. If it were legally possible to gain access and have investigators remove suspect ballots for testing there are ways to potentially differentiate between the polling station ballots and the ballots from postal votes. When you receive a postal vote you must enter your signature and date of birth; after that it is natural to mark the ballot paper using the same pen. At the polling station a pencil is provided for marking the ballot. The substitute ballots would probably be X marked in ink as part of the automated process. I presume variations would need to be introduced to reduce suspicion, but they might think no one will notice so why bother.
Once the postal votes are separated out there are further tests that could identify automation rather than the individual handling of a voter. A significant number of fake ballots in any batch of ballots cast would, or certainly should, invalidate the vote. This must have been organized on an industrial scale to produce the sheer volume of incomprehensible results that were announced a minute after 10 PM supposedly based on exit polls; the announcement itself aroused suspicion. The task now is to analyse the data to determine which results look the most suspect.
In the past, cases of voter fraud might not have overturned a vote, but if this was a nationwide fiddle that affected multiple constituencies to put the wrong government in place I think there is a really strong case. The exposure of this rigged election would make previous votes involving the same company equally suspect including the EU and the Scottish Referendums. Since right now we are still a member of the EU, we have recourse to the European Court of Justice as our rights as RU Citizens have been violated. It would delegitimize the government and force another election. Idox could be barred from handling the new vote and independent foreign observers could be called in to oversee a rerun election. We can but dream…