Like Stuart, I have always been disturbed by the unique identifier added to each ballot paper. My own real bugbear, however, is the fact that one polling clerk loudly announces my name and/or electoral roll number to his/her colleague as they each do one of allocating me a ballot paper and ruling me off the electoral roll printout. This can easily be heard by any of the representatives of the political parties who 'camp' outside the hall, to whom I refuse to give my number as I go in and who, I believe, should not even know that I have voted if I don't want them to, let alone be able to find out how I have voted afterwards. (In practice it wouldn't do them much good to know my number anyway since no party ever bothers to venture down our private drive to canvas us.)
Martine Somerville (Mr)
York
[log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 3:02 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Voting
>
> As an ex-Data Protection Officer, and for many years a Presiding Officer
> within a Polling Station, as well as experience of working within an
> Electoral Registration Office, I would like to put the record straight.
>
> The 'Unique identifier' refererred to is your electoral number for that
> year, and changes from year to year, depending on the number of people who
> are on the register.
>
> It is put on the counterfoil of the ballot paper so that in the case that
> the election is contested, evidence can be provided. I can assure you that
> the ballot papers once counted and the counterfoils never meet once they
> are separated unless this happens. Also these are not kept for more than
> 1-2 years, the same applies for local authority elections.
>
> I do not feel that there are data protection implications. The ballot is
> secret, and no one has access to the ballot papers unless it is formally
> contested. The Electoral Register is a public document and can be viewed
> by anyone.
>
> I do not think we need to get too concerned about this, elections have been
> going on a long time, and processes are in place to protect the identify
> of individuals.
>
> Beverley Windibank
> Administrative Manager
> Southampton Institute
>
> Stuart Cashmore <[log in to unmask]>@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on
> 07/06/2001 14:28:59
>
> Please respond to Stuart Cashmore <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Sent by: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> cc: (bcc: Beverley Windibank/Registry/Southampton Institute)
> Subject: Re: Voting
>
>
> This has been one of my greatest sources of annoyance ever since I have
> been
> able to vote, which was some years before DPA 1984. We pride ourselves in
> this country on our democracy and the "privacy" of the polling booth, and
> yet every ballot paper has a unique identifier on it which links back to
> your personal entry on the list of electors. And all of that information is
> kept, by statute, for (I believe) 100 years!
>
> It would be perfectly possibly for an "extreme" government to sift through
> this and identify individuals who had voted for the "other lot". It would
> certainly be a labour intensive task, but the kind of government that would
> wish to do that in the first place is unlikely to be deterred by the effort
> involved.
>
> And all of that before we consider the DPA implications...
>
>
> Stuart Cashmore
>
> Management Information Projects Manager
> McKessonHBOC (UK), No. 1 Nine Elms Lane, LONDON SW8 5RR
>
> Tel. 020-7819 5083 (with Voicemail)
> Mob. 07799-790019
> Fax. 020-7819 5100
> e-mail [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
>
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