The Singh electoral fraud trial
March 7th, 2013 at 10:00 am by David FarrarStuff reports:
Eight Auckland men, all but one named Singh, have had their trial for alleged electoral fraud moved to the High Court because of the “public interest” in the case.
Labour Party candidate Daljit Singh was charged in mid-2010 with forging voting documents in Auckland’s super-city elections.
It’s been two and a half years since the election, and only now is the trial being moved!
Daljit, a justice of the peace, is charged with election fraud over the alleged forging of change of address forms for hundreds of voters in south Auckland.
Singh was backed by Labour and stood for the Papatoetoe Community Board.
Singh has also been at Labour Party fundraisers since his arrest.
The men were going to face trial in the Manukau District Court but the case was moved to the High Court today.
Justice Timothy Brewer said the case had been transferred “because of the public interest factor”.
He set a trial date for October 14 and remanded all the men on bail.
I find it unacceptable that this case takes three years to go to trial. Even worse it will be held after voting starts in the 2013 local body elections, for alleged offences for the 2010 elections.
We need to get serious about the way electoral crimes and breaches are dealt with in NZ.
To be fair to the Police, in this case they are not the log jam. They arrested Singh in 2010.
But it has now been 18 months since the 2011 general election, and the Police appear to have done nothing with the 20+ cases referred to them by the Electoral Commission.
Related posts:
- Daljit SIngh
- Electoral fraud in Papatoetoe
- Two arrests in electoral fraud case
- Will Daljit Singh be elected?
March 7th, 2013 at 10:07 am
I bet this is only the tip of the iceberg, but the media doesnt want to cover it as it will hurt the Labour party.
The real question is how high in the Labour party does this go, and who told them it was ok to engage in electral fraud . Does David Shearer care about this issue? How long have the Labour party being doing this before they got caught?
Photo id should be required for all elections so multiple votoing and electral fraud cannot occur.
Vote:March 7th, 2013 at 10:13 am
Diversity dividend.
Vote:March 7th, 2013 at 10:21 am
The only hope is that this trial hurts Labour next year in the general election somehow.
Vote:March 7th, 2013 at 11:07 am
Mark – photo ID requirements is causing various problems in some USA states (who are responsible for holding Congress, Senate and Presidential elections). There are claims that it is pro-Republican gerrymandering since only certain types of photo ID’s are acceptable – for example University photo ID’s are not acceptable in some states effectively denying students the vote unless they have some other permissible photo ID.
Requiring photo ID’s for elections is tantamount to requiring anyone without photo ID to get a photo ID card from HANZ at their own expense. This is almost like a compulsory photo ID card system which would be unacceptable many people (witness the UK Government’s failed attempt with this).
Vote:March 7th, 2013 at 11:36 am
No it doesn’t – photo ID is on a drivers licence / firearms licence / passport / some credit cards / and so on….
The same photo ID that is required at check-in when anyone wants to fly nowadays…. no big deal at all.
Vote:March 7th, 2013 at 1:13 pm
In the US, Republicans have written the law so that anyone with out photo ID can go the state government to get a offical photo ID at no expense.
This could be done here as well. It a rewd herring used by people or are happy to allow electoral fraud occur. Usually all are from the left of the political spectrum.
Vote:March 7th, 2013 at 3:00 pm
But, but but…. I thought it was Defence lawyers who were responsible for all of the delays in the criminal justice process??? After all, Simon Power told me so….
And you might believe that until you speak to actual court staff and find out that most delays come from the prosecution side.
Vote:March 7th, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Forget about photo identification being difficult. When I went to stop my mail prior to a holiday I needed photo ID. When I went to get AUD100 cash before a brief holiday in Aussie I needed photo ID. When I went to collect my new cell phone I needed photo ID. When I collected my cell phone after changes to the Google system therein, I needed photo ID. When I became a cheque signatory for a sports club I needed photo ID. When a trust, of which I am a trustee, changed banks I needed photo ID. When I became a client of a sharebroking firm I needed photo ID. When my wife applied for NZ Super she needed photo ID. When I replaced the car I needed photo ID.
Vote:The only thing in N.Z. that you do not need photo ID for is to vote.
March 7th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
“we need to get serious about electoral crimes and breaches”
Where’s the $158,000 Winston?
Vote:March 8th, 2013 at 10:57 am
Photo ID’s are too easy to forge. If you want some fun with the elections then I suggest the following:
Vote:You enter a voting station and recieve your pieces of paper.
You wander around behind one of the cardboard divider.
You start by answering 10 questions (multi-choice and true false) randomly selected from a list of (say 50).
You tick the boxes of the people and party you wish vote for and fold the paper. You then take the papers to a box and prior to placing your paper in the box a person asks you to place your right thumb print in a designated area on the paper.
When the votes are counted they begin with the questions, if 7/10 is not acheived then they are ditched. If 7/10 is acheived then the votes count and the thumb print is scanned. Real time computer generated comparisons of prints is undertaken so if you have voted on two or more booths your votes are collected and your prints are kept for use in criminal proceedings. If all good i.e. passed test and only voted once then votes counts.
Of course ideally this would be better without paper – log in answer, vote and place entire hand on scanner, walk out.
Better results?