Professor of Political Science and Director of Brunel Public Policy Justin Fisher was an invited expert witness to a parliamentary committee on the Government’s draft policy and statement for the Electoral Commission.
By Gillian Trevethan
Justin was commenting on the statement with Dr Sam Power (University of Sussex) and Peter Stanyon, Chief Executive, Association of Electoral Administrators.
The Electoral Commission is an independent body responsible for overseeing the way elections and voting takes place in the UK. The Government has drafted the statement which aims to outline how the Electoral Commission operates, but many have argued that this impinges on the independence of the Commission.
Professor Justin Fisher agreed with this view and suggested the statement needed a lot more work. In the course of the session, Justin also spoke about electoral fraud; highlighting how his research has shown that it is not as common as many assume and is more likely to happen in postal voting rather than at the polls.
You can watch the full meeting here.