Election fraud concern

OLDHAMERS have been warned not to hand their polling cards over to other people amid fears of electoral fraud.

Labour officials raised the alarm after spotting two Asian men asking a woman at a bus stop if she had voted and then trying to obtain her polling card.

They were out campaigning in the Alt estate when they witnessed the incident in Furness Avenue at about 2.30pm on Monday.

They are concerned that the men may be going around the estate trying to talk people who aren’t planning to vote into handing over their polling cards.

Police have been alerted over concerns that the men or their associates will use the cards to impersonate voters and steal their vote.

The men had got out, and then back in, a taxi and the Labour officials took down the number plate and taxi licence plate.

One said: “We are getting a lot of people now saying they are non-voters. I have never experienced as many non-voters and if they can get hold of their polling card they could actually impersonate them and that’s a worry.

“There’s such a lot of non-voters in that area. A lot of them are young people who might not be aware of how the system works.”

Catch up the with candidates at www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/elections/