Exit poll: Blair lost his seat at Sedgefield to Reg Keys?

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/May/theworld_May43.xml&section=theworld

Reg Keys, whose son died in Iraq, stood against Blair in his Sedgefield constituency. Keys was helped by former BBC reporter Martin Bell.

“Our canvass returns put ourselves about even with Labour. We really do have the possibility of regime change,” said Martin Bell.

http://unspun.mithuro.com/content/view/89/36/

According to James Pringle, UK Correspondent of PressEsc, an exit poll showed an easy win for the anti-war challenger Reg Keys.

A comment at the PressEsc site reads: "If this exit poll is real, publish details of who did it and what percentage of the people responded. It is unbelieveable, but if true should be demonstrated so."

The PressEsc exit poll of voters gave 56% of the vote to Reg Keys

Tony Blair got 22% of the vote.

"But there are growing fears that the official results in Sedgefield may not reflect the people's wishes following the vote-rigging scandal that broke out in the constituency."

A police investigation into more than 600 complaints of postal vote fraud was dropped on order from the "top", one Durham Constabulary whistleblower alleged.

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http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=490772005

The radio journalist John Humphrys and TV presenter Mariella Frostrup lost their votes due to apparent postal vote fraud.

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http://icberkshire.icnetwork.co.uk/

eBay recently had an advert selling a postal vote in the Bracknell constituency.

The advert : "For sale: One General Election vote, via postal ballot. Bracknell Constituency (currently Tory)."

Cllr John Hemming, who is deputy leader of Birmingham City Council and an anti-postal fraud campaigner, said there were postal votes being sold for £15 a time in Birmingham, and was not surprised about finding the Bracknell ballot paper.

http://icberkshire.icnetwork.co.uk/
0100news/0400bracknell/tm_objectid
=15481040&method=full&siteid=50102&headline
=postal-vote-for-sale-on-gthe-internet-name_page.html

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http://www.oldhamadvertiser.co.uk/news/index/articles/article_id=12809.html

Concerns over the postal voting system have intensified after more than 2,500 Oldham voters received two sets of ballot papers.

A couple contacted the council to inform them about the error and were told somebody would pick up the duplicate forms, but nobody came.

National concerns over the postal voting system have been fuelled by fraud scandals in local elections in Birmingham and Blackburn

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Aberdeen South - election fraud?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/scotland/4516669.stm

In the marginal constituency of Aberdeen South, an investigation has begun into postal voting.

Deputy returning officer Crawford Langley is worried about the number of people asking for postal votes when council records show they had already been issued.

Aberdeen South, where Labour’s Anne Begg was fighting a strong Liberal Democrat challenge, is now by some estimates the 40th constituency in the UK where there is a formal investigation of ballot abuse.

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http://www.respectcoalition.org/?ite=762

George Galloway, the Respect candidate in Bethnal Green and Bow, today called for a police inquiry into ballot fraud and ghost voting which the party has uncovered.

He called it "a brazen conspiracy to steal the election".

He also slated Toward Hamlets Council's electoral office for publishing an electoral roll which he said was "so shot through with errors and anomalies, deliberate or not, as to be almost meaningless".

In particular he instanced more than 200 votes registered at an address which had been turned into offices more than a year ago.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,19809-1597391,00.html

There have been arrests in Bradford after The Times revealed evidence of potential vote-rigging in the city.

The Times points out that 'thousands of voters risk being disenfranchised because they have not received the correct papers'.

In Hereford, there were delays in sending out postal ballot papers.

In Havant, Hampshire, voters were sent ballot papers for the parliamentary election which said: “Do not vote for more than two candidates.” Ballots will be void if people vote for more than one candidate.

In Michael Meacher’s Oldham West and Royston constituency, more than 2,500 duplicate postal votes were printed and sent out a week after the originals were dispatched. The duplicates were posted by the printers without informing election officials.

In Macclesfield and Tatton, more than 2,000 postal votes have failed to arrive and the acting returning officer has ordered a reissue. Some of the duplicate packs were delivered by hand yesterday but some householders admitted that they had received two.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/england/4518189.stm

According to the BBC, hundreds of people in west London have been prevented from voting in the general election by a clerical error.

Names were deleted from the electoral register in two constituencies: Feltham and Heston, and Brentford and Isleworth.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/01/npost01.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/05/01/ixhome.html

David Harrison, of the UK Telegraph: "I was able to obtain postal ballot papers enabling me to vote 11 times in the general election.... No checks, no questions asked."

I could, if I chose to, vote this week for candidates in areas ranging from London to York and from East Sussex to Cornwall."