Electoral Commission issues films warning voters about postal vote fraud and other offences

The Electoral Commission has issued a set of public information films warning voters about electoral fraud, which is a very welcome move give the high profile concerns over fraud in some places:

The films are also available in Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu – again a sensible move given some of the communities where concerns over postal voting fraud and intimidation have been highest.

The content of the films does, however, go a little further in some cases than the Electoral Commission’s own Code of Conduct on what is, and isn’t, acceptable. (For example, what the Code in 2.3 says is acceptable “if there are no feasible alternative options”, the second film says is never allowed; and while the first film has its heart in the right place when it says no-one is allowed to cast multiple votes, proxy voting can of course involve that and is completely legal.)

That’s a little unfortunate, so these are a good move – but would be even better if the films reflected the Code precisely rather than just closely.