I checked my emails shortly after posting my last comment. I noticed I had received a comment from the Electoral Commission 23 minutes earlier. When I returned to the Discussion Forum dashboard to see if anyone had posted a new comment following my own I noted that I was still the last recorded comment with a time given as 23 minutes earlier!
Now that coincidence is quite spooky – are we being monitored? If we are, then the Electoral Commission should understand that our greatest objective is securing the integrity of the vote which should face be capable of withstanding robust scrutiny from a watchdog with the power to take decisive action. The Electoral Commission’s reply was, once again, remarkably speedy for such a bureaucratic body; it was polite and detailed. I will go over it very carefully before posting here again, but my first impression is that while government bestows and defines their power they will remain confined to a rather limited remit.
It looks like their remit still leaves gaping holes that could, and my well have already been, easily be exploited. The correct level of oversight may have come adrift from advancing technology possibilities and the privatization of the vote handling system after it was recklessly outsourced to private companies. Obviously the government should have put additional safeguards in place before handing responsibility over to commercial third party interests capable of being manipulated. Any oversight recommendation the Electoral Commission might have made to the government regarding this matter may well have been ignored if they were not in the interests of those wishing to remain in power.
It is our duty to expose this massive unacceptable flaw in the system and put huge public pressure on the government to investigate the situation, correct any unlawful votes and enact more appropriate safeguards to protect future votes. Removing the private sector from this equation would certainly help restore public confidence and if the IDOX Postal Vote Managed System is shown to be corrupt they should not be trusted with any future contracts.
However, the harsh reality of the abysmal oversight revelation is that this potentially illegitimate government holds all the cards. If the result of the 2019 General Election was valid it can withstand the challenge of rigorous scrutiny, but does this Tory “landslide majority” Government have something to hide. Only a lot more publicity and an overwhelming public outcry can change that dynamic. If the Electoral Commission are now monitoring this blog we should commend their input so far. Our actions are not subversive they are corrective and can only help to insure that in future this public watchdog is awarded the powers to act in the public interest to protect our democracy. More to follow later…