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'Cover-up' bid over post vote protest
Nov 16 2004
By Staff Reporter, Birmingham Post
Lawyers for Birmingham City Council chief executive Lin Homer are seeking a High Court blocking order to prevent thousands of completed postal vote application forms from being publicly released.
Petitioners who allege elections in Aston and Bordesley Green earlier this year were riddled with fraud fear the move, if successful, will destroy their chances of proving that corruption took place.
Ms Homer's application, which will be heard in London later this month, was sharply criticised by deputy city council leader John Hemming, who said the result of the chief executive's actions could be to "cover up fraud".
Her move came days before a deadline set by the High Court requiring the council to hand over more than 10,000 postal vote application forms to a handwriting expert appointed by the petitioners.
Coun Hemming (Lib Dem South Yardley), who is financially backing an election petition in Aston, said allegations of fraud could only be successfully investigated by matching signatures on postal vote application forms with those on declaration and witness statements.
Ms Homer, who is the returning officer for Birmingham, would effectively halt the progress of the Aston and Bordesley Green petitions if her application was successful, he claimed.
Coun Hemming said: "It is interesting that the returning officer sees fit to apply for a court order to cover up electoral fraud."
The petitioners claim six Labour councillors in Aston and Bordesley Green were elected following an organised campaign of intimidation and postal vote fraud.
Ayoub Khan, a former Liberal Democrat councillor who helped organise the Aston petition, said lawyers for Ms Homer wanted petitioners to advertise for victims of postal vote fraud to come forward.
The suggestion would not work, he claimed, because a "climate of fear" meant people who had been forced to hand over post vote forms would fail to come forward.
