Case Studies

Polling station survey

by Mark Rowe

A provider of tamper evident products in the UK is calling for more secure ballot boxes to be used after finding that as many as one third of Britons do not trust their local polling stations on the safety of their votes.

And of these individuals, almost one fifth stated that not knowing if their votes had been tampered with would have a direct impact on whether or not they voted at all.

With the local and Euro-elections taking place this week, a new piece of research saw Versapak (www.Versapak.co.uk) poll a total of 2,128 adults aged 18 and over who had all previously voted at a local polling station for an election. The research aimed to explore the opinions and perceptions of security at polling stations. Also studied were the various areas of the country where Britons are least likely to trust what happens to their votes, and therefore where tamper evident ballot boxes could be of most benefit to local councillors.

Participants were asked to state if they felt that the way the local polling station implemented the security and storage of voting cards last time they voted was trustworthy. Some 32pc confessed that they did not feel, after voting, that their card was in a secure place and they believed that it was at risk of tampering. The top concerns of these individuals which resulted in this lack of trust were not having a secure enough ballot box (38pc), a lack of people volunteering/working at the stations (24pc), and the lack of organisation (12pc) emerged as the top reasons individuals.

Taking into account where these 32pc of respondents live, the breakdown of where the lack of trust in polling station security is likely to be the most prevalent in the UK emerged as follows-

1. The South-East- (14pc)

2. The North-West- (11pc)

3. The West Midlands- (9pc)

4. The East of England- (7pc)

5. The North-East- (6pc)

When the relevant 32pc of respondents were then asked to disclose if the lack of trust in the security process had an adverse affect on whether they would vote again at a polling station, over one half of these respondents (54pc) confessed that it did. Furthermore, when asked to disclose whether they were planning to vote at all during this week’s Euro-elections, just one in seven (14pc) of all those polled in the study admitted that they would be doing so.

Versapak already provides councils and presiding officers with ballot boxes and associated products suitable for election purposes. All ballot boxes are tamper evident, secure, and produced with voters in mind. Leon Edwards, Group Managing Director of Versapak, said of the study: “After witnessing over the years how the voting process works at polling stations held in local churches, schools and sports halls, I can definitely see the reasons behind such a large proportion of participants having a lack of trust in the UK voting process. This subsequently leads to many people not bothering at all, especially when many are still unsure about the hassle of casting their votes online.

“Since implementing the use of our uniquely designed secure ballot boxes for electoral establishments around the country, the feedback from areas has been overwhelmingly positive. People are particularly complimentary regarding the dual tamper evident lids, which incorporate a tamper evident zip closure for a button security seal, ensuring that all vote slips are safe and secure for voters peace of mind.”

Visit www.versapak.co.uk.

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