[4] However, a 2016 government report found postal voting to be vulnerable to "fraud, undue influence, theft and tampering.
The Representation of the People Act 1945 again made temporary provision for postal voting by service voters.
Service personnel could, alternatively, vote by proxy if they were likely to be at sea or abroad on polling day.
In 1983, in its review of electoral law, the Home Affairs Select Committee criticised the categories of absent voters who were allowed to vote by post.
[citation needed] However, the government's response was summed up as follows: The Representation of the People Act 1985 subsequently made provision for these extensions to the right to apply for an absent vote.
A Working Party on Electoral Procedures chaired by George Howarth, Minister of State at the Home Office, published its report in October 1999.
The Representation of the People (England & Wales) Regulations 2001 introduced the changes to the absent voting arrangements from 16 February 2001.
Prior to 2001, postal votes had been available since 1948 only to those unable to attend a polling station for reasons of ill health, employment or planned holiday away from home and to some electors living on small islands where they would need to cross water to reach their polling station.
[10] Registered voters who wish to vote by post must submit an additional application form to the electoral registration officer at their local authority (or to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland if in Northern Ireland) stating whether they want their ballot paper to be sent for one single election, all elections until a specified date or indefinitely.
The issuing of postal ballots is not open to the scrutiny of candidates and their agents; by law, only the returning officers, their staff, representatives of the Electoral Commission and accredited observers[12] are permitted to attend.
Some returning officers produce postal ballot packs in house, whilst others outsource the process to an external company.
[19][20] Candidates and their agents, representatives of the Electoral Commission and accredited observers[12] are entitled to observe the opening of postal ballot packs – the returning officer must give candidates and their agents at least 48 hours' written notice of the time and location of every opening session of postal ballot packs.
On a separate list, the returning officer must write down the unique identification numbers of postal voting statements which were chosen for verification and subsequently rejected.
At the end of an election, the marked postal voter lists are open for public inspection and also can be purchased by the Electoral Commission, candidates, elected representatives, government departments, police forces, registered political parties and local constituency parties.
Evidence was presented of pressure being put on vulnerable members of some ethnic minority communities, particularly women and young people, to vote according to the will of the elders... the possibilities of undue influence, theft of postal votes and tampering with them after completion were all still risks.
[5][23] The postal vote fraud at the 2004 European and local government elections in Birmingham received wide press attention.