Family Voting concerns as observers raise worries over family voting at Gorton and Denton byelection
Democracy Volunteers said its election observers recorded 32 cases of apparent collusion and described the instances as family voting in the Gorton and Denton byelection. The group, which it said was founded by Dr John Ault and supported by the Conservative peer and psephologist Prof Robert Haywood, deployed four accredited election observers across the constituency.
Family Voting: observers' findings
The team attended 22 of the 45 polling stations while polls were open, spending between 30 and 45 minutes in each and working in pairs. Democracy Volunteers said its volunteers were specifically looking at people appearing to collude on votes in breach of secret ballot rules, a practice the organisation called “family voting”, and at the impact of the requirement for voters to show ID before being issued with a ballot paper.
Scale and sample observed
Observers reported seeing family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed, with 32 cases recorded in total and nine cases in one polling station alone. They observed a sample of 545 voters casting their votes, of which they said 12% either directed or were affected by family voting. Democracy Volunteers said the 32 cases represented the highest levels of family voting in its 10-year history of observing elections in the UK.
Legal and signage context
The organisation noted that the enactment of the Ballot Secrecy Act in 2023 made “family voting” more clearly a breach of the secret ballot, but added that signage discouraging the practice was only seen in 45% of the polling stations observed.
Official responses and party reactions
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. Labour described the reports as “extremely worrying and concerning”. Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, said: “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. ”
Calls for inquiry and other party comments
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, said he would back an investigation and said: “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. ” David Bull, the Reform UK chair, 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. ”
Comparisons and closing data
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: “We rarely issue a report on the night of an election, but the data we have collected today on family voting, when compared to other recent byelections, is extremely high.
“In the other recent Westminster parliamentary byelection in Runcorn and Helsby we saw family voting in 12% of polling stations, affecting 1% of voters. In Gorton and Denton, we observed family voting in 68% of polling stations, affecting 12% of those voters observed. ”
Other incidents observers logged
The volunteers also observed cases of voters being turned away, noting that in every case this 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 case described as one person being authorised to vote despite them already — unclear in the provided context.
Democracy Volunteers deployed four accredited observers, attended 22 of 45 polling stations, recorded 32 cases of apparent collusion, observed 545 voters, and highlighted signage in 45% of stations; their findings have prompted calls from party figures for evidence review and potential further examination.
