1 May 2008

Detica Group plc (DCA.L), the business and technology consultancy, today warns that proposed tactics to eradicate fraud from UK elections could lead to a significant fall in voting and have limited impact on the root causes of the problem. Responding to a report issued this week by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, which says the UK electoral system is vulnerable to fraud, Detica believes it may be necessary to make some low level trade-offs with security to allow open, anonymous and inclusive voting in British society.

Detica argues tactics like placing tight security controls on postal and online voting would be counterproductive, as they would make these services more difficult to use and deter genuine voters. In the last UK general election in 2005, less than two thirds of the public turned out to vote, something which has caused the Electoral Commission concern. There has also been widespread debate that a low voter turn-out in today's London mayoral elections would help extremist, minority parties such as the BNP to gain seats on the London Assembly.

Anthony Golledge, from Detica's Government division, says: 'The UK can't achieve a completely fraud-proof voting system without closing down opportunities for people to vote easily. Realistically, no system can ever be secure and readily accessible to a group as large as the UK electorate, without vulnerability to fraud being inherent in the system, so a compromise must be made. Some of the identity verification methods being mooted at the moment — such as presenting photo ID to vote — are just superficial solutions which don't address the root causes of fraud. Longer term strategic monitoring of fraud would add more value to improving the electoral system.

"We're not suggesting the UK government gives up fighting electoral fraud, but we do advise it adopts a more targeted approach. For election fraud, the key focus should be on the systems that distribute ballot papers or count votes — sophisticated, serious fraudsters will penetrate these high-level sources, where they can make the most impact."

One of the most effective ways to fight fraud is to use new intelligence technologies to analyse data for suspicious patterns. Detica believes data on voting activity should be examined to identify unusual patterns such as disproportionate voting from a particular geographic area or age group. The UK government is already using these techniques to fight tax evasion and smuggling, by concentrating on the riskiest members of society.

Golledge concludes: 'There are lessons to be learned here from the banking sector which, because of tighter money-laundering regulations and significant online fraud problems, has made real progress with identify verification methods, such as chip and pin credit cards, registered signatures and even fingerprints. The banks have also learned, however, that strengthening one part of the process just moves the fraud elsewhere. This is a problem which a secure election system will have to address.

"Ultimately the government needs to make a tough decision on whether it's worth the time and investment to make elections as fraud-free as possible, when the likely outcome is that this will only lead to a lower number of people voting. We believe a better approach is to get smarter and more targeted on tackling the serious causes of the problem."

Sally Clift or Rachel Ringstead Porter NovelliTel: +44 (0)207 853 2222email: or