A heated argument broke out at a polling station in a South Manchester primary school when a British Pakistani man entered the same polling booth as his wife. An election clerk intervened when the man began instructing his wife on where to mark her ballot paper. According to witness Ali Mir, the man said his wife didn't speak any English and he was just showing her where to put her cross.
' Ali Mir witnessed one of scores of alarming incidents of 'family voting' at the Gorton and Denton by-election. Family voting is an illegal practice that often involves a man entering a polling booth with his wife or other relative and telling them how to vote. It has been a criminal offence since 2023.
Today we have seen concerningly high levels of family voting in Gorton and Denton. Based on our assessment of today’s observations, we have seen the highest levels of family voting at any election in our 10 year history of observing elections in the UK.
Democracy Volunteers announced it had detected 'concerningly high levels' of family voting at the by-election, with up to one in eight votes affected. According to the group, it observed family voting in 15 of 22 polling stations, totaling 32 cases, affecting 12% of 545 voters observed. John Ault, director of Democracy Volunteers, said this was the highest level of family voting in the group's 10-year history.
However, Manchester City Council insisted its staff had 'seen no such issues' and criticized observers for not raising the alarm sooner. Election officials in Greater Manchester say there is no evidence of family voting taking place. The Green Party won the Gorton and Denton by-election with a more than 4000 majority over Reform's candidate.
This election was a victory for sectarian voting and cheating.
Reform UK claimed there had been 'cheating and sectarianism' that swayed the vote against them. Nigel Farage referred reports of family voting to Greater Manchester Police. Greater Manchester Police confirmed it is reviewing a report into the allegations.