Skwawkbox wants readers to check their local Conservative Party websites for infringements similar to that described below.

If you find any that do not meet the Code of Conduct requirements shown above, put the website URL in the comments of the Skwawkbox article (listed as the source, below), so the any breaches can be exposed and corrected.

You can also contact your local returning officer directly, of course.

Electoral rules do allow political parties to invite voters to send postal ballot application forms (not actual completed ballot papers) to party offices rather than to the local authority conducting the election. This would appear to be fraught with the risk of facilitating potential fraudulent applications, but it is currently permitted.However, political parties are not allowed to encourage voters to do so. In fact, the Postal Vote Code of Conduct instructs them to discourage it by making the official return address.

However, the Somerset Conservatives website breaches this rule, putting the Tories office as the first address for completed applications and failing to indicate that the local ERO is the preferred destination, let alone providing the Returning Officer’s address:

This may seem like a small ‘technicality’, but it’s in such seemingly-insignificant areas that space for election-tampering can exist – affecting the wellbeing of thousands and even millions of our citizens. And if the Tories are prepared to mis-allocate or completely omit hundreds of thousands of pounds of electoral spending, then they’ll exploit any opportunity to tilt elections their way.

Source: Yet another Tory electoral breach – the SKWAWKBOX needs your help | The SKWAWKBOX

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