A tale of two elections
The London mayoral contest
Zac Goldsmith was selected today as the Conservative’s mayoral candidate by an online ballot.
The Richmond Park and North Kingston MP won with 70 per cent of the 9,227 votes cast using an online primary system.
There were no reports of irregularities.
The Trade Union Bill
The government won’t allow union members to vote online during strike ballots on the grounds that it is “not safe”.
This, despite the fact that a recent Speaker’s Commission on digital democracy for parliament recommended that by 2020 secure online voting should be an option for all voters.
Many companies already use online voting to let shareholders vote in corporate ballots.
It looks a lot like one rule for the Tories and another for trade unionists.
James Bloodworth is the editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter
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18 Responses to “Tory hypocrisy over use of online balloting”
Dave Stewart
I completely agree. If this passes, which I expect it will it is pretty clear that there will be civil disobedience in response. The reason trade union activity was made legal was to prevent completely wild cat illegal strikes (which could often turn violent from both the employer and TU side) by giving people a legitimate legal method of expressing their concerns and bargaining with their employers. Making it harder to strike legally will not prevent the causes of strikes and therefore will not end industrial unrest. It will simply criminalise formerly law abiding trade unionist. If you are already breaking the law just being on strike what difference would it make if you formed an illegal picket and intimidated people (you’re breaking the law anyway) from crossing just like in the good old days.
JAMC
Trade unions do encourage their members to vote – and they usually encourage them in the same way that the ballot is conducted; i.e. by post. Reliance on one-way communication via post for both informing the electorate and conducting the ballot is a sure-fire recipe for a low turnout.
If you want a 50% validity clause, all I ask in return is that the same rule apply to things that are at least equally as onerous – like, oh I don’t know, selecting the people to parliament who decide the laws we have to live under, for example.
JAMC
If it passes, I suspect the long-term implication of such a law would be a reduction in the number of official strikes, but a corresponding increase in the quantity of corporate and industrial sabotage.