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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AtulaSiriwardane" data-source="post: 7210821" data-attributes="member: 120286"> Intimidation Voter intimidation involves putting undue pressure on a voter or group of voters so that they will vote a particular way, or not at all. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absentee_voting" target="_blank">Absentee</a> and other <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_voting" target="_blank">remote voting</a> can be more open to some forms of intimidation as the voter does not have the protection and privacy of the polling location. Intimidation can take a range of forms. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Violence or the threat of violence: In its simplist form, voters from a particular demographic or known to support a particular party or candidate are directly threatened by supporters of another party or candidate or those hired by them. In other cases supporters of a particular party make it known that if a particular village or neighbourhood is found to have voted the 'wrong' way, reprisals will be made against that community. Another method is to make a general threat of violence, for example a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_threat" target="_blank">bomb threat</a> which has the effect of closing a particular polling place, thus making it difficult for people in that area to vote.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-7" target="_blank">[8]</a></li> </ul><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Attacks on polling places: Polling places in an area known to support a particular party or candidate may be targeted for vandalism, destruction or threats, thus making it difficult or impossible for people in that area to vote.</li> </ul><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Legal threats: In this case voters will be made to believe, accurately or otherwise, that they are not legally entitled to vote, or that they are legally obliged to vote a particular way. Voters who are not confident about their entitlement to vote may also be intimidated by real or implied authority figures who suggest that those who vote when they are not entitled to will be imprisoned, deported or otherwise punished.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-8" target="_blank">[9]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-autogenerated2-9" target="_blank">[10]</a> For example in 2004, in Wisconsin and elsewhere voters allegedly received flyers that said, “If you already voted in any election this year, you can’t vote in the Presidential Election”, implying that those who had voted in earlier primary elections were ineligible to vote. Also, “If anybody in your family has ever been found guilty of anything you can’t vote in the Presidential Election.” Finally, “If you violate any of these laws, you can get 10 years in prison and your children will be taken away from you.”<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-10" target="_blank">[11]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-11" target="_blank">[12]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook_County,_Illinois" target="_blank">Cook County, Illinois</a> in 2004, is to falsely tell particular people that they are not eligible to vote.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-autogenerated2-9" target="_blank">[10]</a> Another method, allegedly used in </li> </ul><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Economic threats: In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_towns" target="_blank">company towns</a> in which one company employs most of the working population, the company may threaten workers with disciplinary action if they do not vote the way their employer dictates. One method of doing this is the 'shoe polish method'. This method entails coating the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_machine" target="_blank">voting machine</a>'s lever or button of the opposing candidate(s) with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_polish" target="_blank">shoe polish</a>. This method works when an employee of a company that orders him to vote a certain way votes contrary to those orders. After the voter exits the voting booth, a conspirator to the fraud (a precinct captain or other local person in collusion with the employee's management) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handshake" target="_blank">handshakes</a> the voter. The conspirator then subtly check's the voter's hand for any shoe polish and notes that the voter has left some shoe polish after the handshake. Soon afterward that unfortunate voter gets fired or faces other unpleasant consequences.[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" target="_blank">citation needed</a>]</li> </ul>Vote buying Voters may be given money or other rewards for voting in a particular way, or not voting. In some jurisdictions, the offer or giving or other rewards is referred to as "electoral treating".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-12" target="_blank">[13]</a> In Mexico, Queensland and several other places, voters willing to sell their vote are asked to take a picture of their ballot with a cellphone camera to validate their payment. Vote buying may also be done indirectly, for example by paying clergymen to tell their parishioners to vote for a particular party or candidate.  Misinformation People may distribute false or misleading information in order to affect the outcome of the election. Most commonly, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smear_campaign" target="_blank">smear campaigns</a> (the circulation of false rumours) are made against a particular candidate or party. Smear campaigns are not necessarily illegal and can therefore not always be considered election fraud. However in some countries smear campaigns may violate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libel" target="_blank">libel</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slander" target="_blank">slander</a> laws and in others, as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines" target="_blank">Philippines</a>, such campaigns are specifically illegal. In 2007 British politician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_Grell" target="_blank">Miranda Grell</a> was convicted under the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1983" target="_blank">Representation of the People Act 1983</a> for making a false statement about another candidate in order to gain electoral advantage. Another way in which misinformation can be used in voter fraud is to give voters incorrect information about the time or place of polling, thus causing them to miss their chance to vote. Misleading or confusing ballot papers Ballot papers may be used to discourage votes for a particular party or candidate, using design or other features which confuse voters into voting for a different candidate. For example, in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2000" target="_blank">United States presidential election, 2000</a>, Florida's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_ballot" target="_blank">butterfly ballot</a> paper was criticised as confusing some voters into giving their vote to the wrong candidate. Poor or misleading design is not usually illegal and therefore not technically election fraud, but can subvert the principles of democracy. Another method of confusing people into voting for the wrong candidate is to run candidates or create political parties with similar names or symbols as an existing candidate or party. The aim is that enough voters will be misled into voting for the false candidate or party to influence the results.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-13" target="_blank">[14]</a> Such tactics may be particularly effective when a large proportion of voters have limited literacy in the language used on the ballot paper. Again, such tactics are usually not illegal but often work against the principles of democracy. Ballot stuffing Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_stuffing" target="_blank">Ballot stuffing</a> Ballot stuffing occurs when a person casts more votes than they are entitled to. In its simplest form, ballot stuffing literally involves 'stuffing' multiple ballot papers into the ballot box. Another method is for voters to cast votes at multiple booths, on each occasion claiming that it is their only vote. In some countries such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank">India</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Salvador" target="_blank">El Salvador</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namibia" target="_blank">Namibia</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan" target="_blank">Afghanistan</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_ink" target="_blank">election ink</a> to prevent multiple votes. In Afghanistan's elections of 2005, this method failed as the ink used could easily be removed. voters get a finger marked with  A more subtle technique is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personation" target="_blank">personation</a>, in which a person pretends to be someone else. The person whose vote is being used may be legitimately enrolled but absent, a real but deceased person, or entirely fictitious.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-14" target="_blank">[15]</a>. A particularly unsubtle form of ballot stuffing, known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booth_capturing" target="_blank">booth capturing</a>, sometimes occurs in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank">India</a>. In these cases a gang of thugs will 'capture' a polling place and cast votes in the names of legitimate voters, who are prevented from voting themselves. In jurisdictions with absentee balloting, an individual or a campaign may fill in and forge a signature on an absentee ballot intended for a voter in that jurisdiction, thus passing off the ballot as having been filled out by that voter. Such cases of voter fraud have resulted in criminal charges in the past. Misrecording of votes Many elections feature multiple opportunities for unscrupulous officials or 'helpers' to record an elector's vote differently from their intentions. Voters who require assistance to cast their votes are particularly vulnerable to having their votes stolen in this way. For example, a blind person or one who cannot read the language of the ballot paper may be told that they have voted for one party when in fact they have been led to vote for another. This is similar to the misuse of proxy votes; however in this case the voter will be under the impression that they have voted with the assistance of the other person, rather than having the other person voting on their behalf.Where votes are recorded through electronic or mechanical means, the voting machinery may be altered so that a vote intended for one candidate is recorded for another.  Misuse of proxy votes <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absentee_voting#Proxy_voting" target="_blank">Proxy voting</a> is particularly vulnerable to election fraud due to the amount of trust placed in the person who casts the vote. In several countries there have been allegations of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement_home" target="_blank">retirement home</a> residents being asked to fill out 'absentee voter' forms. When the forms are signed and gathered, they are then secretly rewritten as applications for proxy votes, naming party activists or their friends and relatives as the proxies. These people, unknown to the voter, then cast the vote for the party of their choice. This trick relies on elderly care home residents typically being absent-minded, or suffering from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia" target="_blank">dementia</a>. In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" target="_blank">United Kingdom</a>, this is known as 'granny farming' and has been restricted in recent years by a change in the law which prevents a single voter acting as a proxy for more than two non-family members therefore requiring more people to be involved in any fraud. Destruction or invalidation of ballots One of the simplest methods of electoral fraud is to simply destroy ballots for the 'wrong' candidate or party. This is unusual in functioning democracies as it is difficult to do without attracting attention. However in a very close election it might be possible to destroy a very small number of ballot papers without detection, thereby changing the overall result. Blatant destruction of ballot papers can render an election invalid and force it to be re-run. If a party can improve its vote on the re-run election, it can benefit from such destruction as long as it is not linked to it.A more subtle, and easily achieved, method is to make it appear that the voter has spoiled their ballot thus rendering it invalid. Typically this would be done by adding an additional mark to the paper, making it appear that the voter has voted for more candidates than they were entitled to. It would be difficult to do this to a large number of papers without detection, but in a close election may prove decisive. Vote fraud in legislature Vote fraud can also take place in legislatures. Some of the forms used in national elections can also be used in parliaments, particularly intimidation and vote-buying. Because of the much smaller number of voters, however, election fraud in legislature is qualitatively different in many ways. Fewer people are needed to 'swing' the election, and therefore specific people can be targeted in ways impractical on a larger scale. For example, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler" target="_blank">Adolf Hitler</a> achieved his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator" target="_blank">dictatorial</a> powers due to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933" target="_blank">Enabling Act of 1933</a>, and achieved the necessary two-thirds majority to pass the Act by arresting members of the opposition. Later, the Reichstag was packed with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi" target="_blank">Nazi</a> party members who voted for the Act's renewal. In many legislatures, voting is public, in contrast to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot" target="_blank">secret ballot</a> used in most modern public elections. This may make their elections more vulnerable to some forms of fraud, since a politician can be pressured by others who will know how he or she has voted. However, it may also protect against bribery and blackmail since the public and media will be aware if a politician votes in an unexpected way. Since voters and parties are entitled to pressure politicians to vote a particular way, the line between legitimate and fraudulent pressure is not always clear. As in public elections, proxy votes are particularly prone to fraud. In some systems, parties may vote on behalf of any member who is not present in parliament. This protects those people from missing out on voting if they are prevented from attending parliament, but also allows their party to prevent them from voting against its wishes. In some legislatures, proxy voting is not allowed, but politicians may rig voting buttons or otherwise illegally cast 'ghost votes' while absent.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud#cite_note-15" target="_blank">[16</a></blockquote>

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