What Is Family Voting: what is family voting — Observers raise concerns over secret ballot breaches at Gorton and Denton byelection

Democracy Volunteers has documented what it calls high levels of "family voting" in the Gorton and Denton by-election, and the group’s director warned the incidents were the highest in its 10-year history. The question what is family voting has been central to immediate calls for further scrutiny.

What Is Family Voting Explained

The organisation defined the practice as people appearing to collude on votes in breach of secret ballot rules, which the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 made more clearly illegal. Democracy Volunteers said it was looking at people who either conferred, colluded or directed each other on voting.

Observers' findings and the numbers

Democracy Volunteers, founded by Dr John Ault and supported by the Conservative peer and psephologist Prof Robert Haywood, deployed four accredited election observers across the constituency. The team attended 22 of the 45 polling stations while polls were open, spending between 30 and 45 minutes in each station and working in pairs.

Observers said they saw family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed, reporting 32 cases in total and nine cases in one polling station alone. They recorded a sample of 545 voters casting their votes and said 12% of those observed either directed or were affected by family voting. Democracy Volunteers noted signage discouraging the practice was only seen in 45% of the polling stations they visited.

Comparisons with other byelections

Ault, director of Democracy Volunteers, said: "Today we have seen concerningly high levels of family voting in Gorton and Denton. Based on our assessment of today’s observations, we have seen the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10-year history of observing elections in the UK. " He added that the group rarely issues a report on election night but that the data collected was "extremely high" when compared with other recent byelections. He cited another Westminster parliamentary byelection in Runcorn and Helsby where they saw family voting in 12% of polling stations, affecting 1% of voters, while in Gorton and Denton they observed family voting in 68% of polling stations, affecting 12% of those voters observed.

Responses from parties and officials

Labour described the reports as "extremely worrying and concerning. " Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, spoke on two programmes. She told Newsnight: "That’s not what we want to see in our democracy. So obviously we need to see the evidence and the report, and then make due decision about what authorities should look into this. " On Sky News she said: "It’s really concerning to hear. I hope the appropriate authorities will be looking at that, examining it and taking any reasonable steps. " She added: "Obviously it is very early stages at the moment to assess the information but of course it’s deeply serious because every vote should be personal, secret. That’s the cornerstone of our democracy. So any evidence to the contrary is very concerning and I am sure the relevant authorities will be looking at this in the days and weeks ahead. "

Green party leader Zack Polanski told the same programme he would back an investigation, saying: "I think it’s important that there’s full transparency about the democratic process, and if the recommendation is that there should be an inquiry or further steps then yes I’d support that. " The Reform UK chair, David Bull, said that "electoral fraud is a stain on democracy" and added: "We would support reporting it and making sure that it’s done in the spirit and fairness with the law. "

Local authorities and possible probes

It was suggested the matter could fall to Greater Manchester Police, the Electoral Commission, and Manchester City Council to look into the allegations. Manchester City Council said its staff had been trained to look for evidence of voter interference and that no concerns had been reported or raised with them while polls were open. The council was also critical of Democracy Volunteers for not raising concerns with them earlier, adding that no issues were reported from polling stations beforehand.

Leading pollster Robert Hayward, who authored the legislation that outlawed "family voting, " said: "The report as prepared by Democracy Volunteers is concerning. The Ballot Secrecy Act which I introduced and steered through both Houses into law should have stopped such practices. I am very disappointed and will be discussing these details with Democracy Volunteers further. "

Other irregularities the observers noted

The volunteers also observed cases of voters being turned away, which they said in every case was due to not being registered to vote in Westminster elections—for example, if they had EU citizenship and were eligible to vote only in local elections. They reported seeing voters taking photographs of their ballot papers and noted one person being authorised to vote despite them already unclear in the provided context.

Democracy Volunteers said the scale of what it recorded — 32 cases and the highest levels in its 10-year history — made the findings notable and prompted calls from political figures for the relevant authorities to examine the evidence and decide on any next steps.