Time to Review Past Petitions and Post a Status Update on Current Petitions:
On the UK Government Petition Website there is an old Petition that is now closed: “We want Parliament to commission an independent review of the election result…” The Petitioners make a futile appeal for Government action; it went nowhere and after 1,338 Signatures it was closed down in January of 2016. That rumbling of discontent followed suspicions about the result of the 2015 General Election. The Petitioners stated that: “We are convinced the general election was rigged. But rigged or not, the election was won on misinformation. And it needs to be sorted.”
Again posted on UK Government Petition Website there was a rejected Petition over vote rigging that called into question the legitimacy of the previous General Election in 2017. “A RIGGED GENERAL ELECTION.” The Petition appealed to Labour MP: “Harriet Harman must force an enquiry into the General election result. We are convinced it was rigged. But rigged or not, the election was won on misinformation. And it needs to be sorted.” Why was this petition rejected? The Government’s response was that: “It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not responsible for. Your petition asks for Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP to force an inquiry into the result of the general election. This site is for petitions to the Government and the House of Commons as a whole.”
Another Petition on the UK Government Petition Website garnered 22,393 signatures before it was, oh so conveniently, closed down early because of the 2019 General Election; this left the UK public wide open to industrial scale Postal Vote fraud once again. “Stop Postal Votes except for the elderly and disabled.” The Petitioners elaborated on the problem by saying that: “Postal voting is ‘wide open to fraud’ and should be scrapped in its current form. Judge Richard Mawrey, who sits in judgment on election fraud cases, previously said ballot-rigging was now a ‘probability’ in some parts of Britain due to the extension of postal voting.”
These failed attempts to rescue our democracy from corruption are becoming distressingly routine: we must draw a line in the sand before the situation gets any worse. Our Petitions are key to increasing public awareness to create a huge citizen outcry over this injustice. Why is this well documented serious flaw in our Electoral System consistently ignored by our Government? It works exceptionally well to help facilitate widespread Tory Vote Rigging: bottom line, it keeps the Tories in power.
The first of the newer Petitions I would consider relevant to the important cause of restoring the integrity of our highly questionable democracy was launched well before the 2019 General Election. It gained an impressive level of support, with a current total of 156,309 Signatures on the 38 Degrees Petition site. Unfortunately, although the goal was laudable, far from achieving the desired pre-election enhancement of the Electoral Commission’s powers to combat electoral fraud, we endured what was undoubtedly the most corrupt election in my lifetime.
“Increase the fines for breaking electoral law” 156,309 Signed; I believe it is still open to further signatures so: Please Sign. This was addressed To: Michael Gove and all political party leaders in Westminster. This Campaign was created by Adam Ramsey of Open Democracy and Hosted on 38 Degrees.
Obviously my Internet trawl searching for Petitions relevant to the 2019 General Election was a tad overdue as I have only just discovered yet another Petition I had not noticed before on 38 Degrees. “Clean up our electoral system” 24,184 have Signed – Please Sign. This was probably launched by the 38 Degrees team; the goal to “Increase the powers and fines of the Electoral Commission” is addressed to: “All political party leaders in Westminster.”
If you are thinking “lots of luck with that one under an unstoppable Tory majority,” I can understand the sentiment, but we cannot afford to complacently accept the status quo and give up. It will be an uphill challenge to demand that this Tory Government should prioritize increasing the powers of the Electoral Commission to “Clean up our electoral system” if they are not significantly shamed and forced to concede by the overwhelming evidence of corruption in this last election as is targeted in my own Petition: 2019 TORY LANDSLIDE VICTORY DEMANDS URGENT NATIONWIDE INVESTIGATION. Mine is a more recent Petition Hosted on AVAAZ, but with under 425 Signatures I seriously need your support so Please Sign.
“Demand Parliamentary Investigation into rigged postal votes 2019 Election.” 7,272 have Signed: Please Sign. Hosted on Change.org – Oswald Beyzade started this petition to European Parliament and Others. This Petition is interesting in that the appeal for consideration is firstly to the EU which places any decision beyond the obvious dismissive powers of our current Tory Government. If we can produce enough evidence the EU might come to our rescue.
“We want an independent investigation into the implementation of the 2019 UK General Election” 3,579 have Signed: Please Sign. This Petition on the Care2 Petition site appears to be focused on the Electoral Commission and includes the note:
“If anyone had personal experience of having difficulty voting please contact the Electoral Commission on this website to make a complaint as soon as possible…”
“Recount the Postal Votes GE 2019” 7,513 have Signed: Please Sign. This Petition is Hosted on Change.org – Alex Webb started this Petition to the Electoral Commission.
“Please investigate why legitimate voters were turned away in the 2019 general election” 682 have Signed: Please Sign. This Petition is Hosted on Change.org John Clayton started this Petition to the UK Electoral Commission.
Few people comprehend how toothless our Electoral Commission is in practice, from inability to adequately monitor outsourced Electoral Services, to unnecessarily convoluted procedures for demanding a recount or an investigation, to paltry token fines that do precious little to deter violating the law with rampant corruption. A Watchdog that cannot watch is just a dog!
The remit of the Electoral Commission is determined by Parliament and that is now under the control of a Tory majority leveraged into power by the fabricated “landslide victory” that was almost certainly achieved through vote rigging on an industrial scale. The fox is not about to pitch in with long overdue repairs to the hen house! It will take a real fight to “Rescue our Watchdog!” All Votes Must Count.
“Stop the anti-Corbyn bias on the BBC” 26,076 have Signed: Please Sign. This Petition is Hosted on Change.org – John Han started this petition to the BBC. On 16th January John Hans announced that: “We have decided to run a joint petition campaign of our ‘Stop the anti-Corbyn bias on the BBC’ with Richard House’s ‘Demand a full independent inquiry into the BBC’s coverage of the 2019 General Election’.”
“Demand a full independent inquiry into the BBC’s coverage of the 2019 General Election.” 7,031 have Signed: Please Sign. This Petition is Hosted on Change.org – Richard House started this Petition to Registered voters and all consumers of Britain’s broadcast media and Others.
In reality it will take a massive groundswell of public support to force this authoritarian government to take notice; these Petitions are just the beginning of the huge public awareness campaign that will be necessary to accomplish our goal. The Petitions listed here cover different aspects of the battle to restore the integrity of our democracy from postal vote rigging to the BBC and media manipulation of the propaganda campaign; they are listed in no particular order, but they are all equally in need of your support. Click on the “Please Sign” Link to read and sign the Petitions.