How secure is the Lisbon referendum against Fraud?

[Civic_critic2]

"The law requires the returning officer when he receives the postal ballots to immediately put them (unopened) into a postal ballot box."

*Sure there's 200,000 for yourself, let's not be letting those nutters like sinn féin ruin the future of the country with their lies*

It is profoundly foolish and unnecessary to rely on the probity of a small collection of individuals at mulitple potential points of vulnerability in the voting procedure when a system should be used that in itself ensures much gretaer transparency. The very fact that we are being put in the position of having to trust people rather than procedures being put in place that would obviate that need, in this referendum and all elections, is suspicious in itself.

I don't know what the origin is of the Irish procedure in doing this but I would observe that it would be a useful final redoubt for the establishment if, over the past several decades, sinn féin or any republicans ever looked like getting enough votes to hold the balance of power in the country.

[orbit]

"The law requires the returning officer when he receives the postal ballots to immediately put them (unopened) into a postal ballot box."

*Sure there's 200,000 for yourself, let's not be letting those nutters like sinn féin ruin the future of the country with their lies*

I think there might be a little more cause for concern if there was 200,000 postal voters on the register. The number is relatively small as far as I know. The "agents" can be present when the postal ballots are issued as well as when they are opened. So, there isn't scope for stuffing the ballot box with extra ones.

It is profoundly foolish and unnecessary to rely on the probity of a small collection of individuals at mulitple potential points of vulnerability in the voting procedure when a system should be used that in itself ensures much gretaer transparency. The very fact that we are being put in the position of having to trust people rather than procedures being put in place that would obviate that need, in this referendum and all elections, is suspicious in itself.

I don't know what the origin is of the Irish procedure in doing this but I would observe that it would be a useful final redoubt for the establishment if, over the past several decades, sinn féin or any republicans ever looked like getting enough votes to hold the balance of power in the country.

Seriously, it's a tradeoff between convenience and security and in the UK they went for convenience. The Irish procedure is a lot more secure than the UK. There's no harm in questioning all this though, and I'd personally be interested to find out about the postal ballot envelopes, and how/if they are made tamper-proof.