UK Cabinet Office issues misleading statistics about voter fraud

In 2018, after the UK Cabinet Office said a trial of compulsory voter ID was necessary because reports of voter fraud had more than doubled between the 2014 and 2016 elections - a claim immediately disputed by a voter and upheld by the UK Statistics Authority. While it was true that there were 21 reports in 2014 and 44 in 2016, the number fell to 28 in 2017, small numbers to begin with. Crucially, more than twice as many people voted in 2016, the year of the EU referendum. None of the five areas chosen to test voter ID - Bromley, Woking, Gosport, Watford, and Swindon - for the 2018 local elections have recorded any cases of voter impersonation in recent years. The Election Reform Society called the plans deeply flawed and said they represented "a calculated effort by the government to make voting harder for some citizens". 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/01/government-claim-of-voter-surge-misleading-says-watchdog

Writer: Peter Walker
Publication: Guardian