Electoral fraud in 2019

The UK has low levels of proven electoral fraud.

There remains no evidence of large-scale electoral fraud in 2019.

Overview

595 cases of alleged electoral fraud were investigated by the police. Of these, five led to a conviction and two individuals were given a police caution.

This table shows the number of cases of alleged fraud the police reported to us, for each election held in 2019.

ElectionNumber of cases
Local elections362
UK Parliamentary general election164
European Parliamentary election21
Non-election specific (for example, electoral registration)21
Local by-election12
UK Parliamentary by-election7
Mayoral election6
Combined authority mayoral election1
Police and Crime Commissioner by-election1

Outcome of all reported cases

OutcomeNumber of casesPercentage of total
No further action38465%
Locally resolved20034%
Conviction51%
Caution2Less than 1%
OtherLess than 1%
Acquitted1Less than 1%
Court proceedings discontinued1Less than 1%

Two thirds of all cases resulted in the police taking no further action. This means that the cases were not investigated further by the police because there was no evidence (or there wasn’t enough evidence), or no offence was found.

Number of cases and types of offences investigated in 2019

The table shows the number of cases, and types of offences that were investigated in 2019

CategoryNumber of casesPercentage of total
Campaigning32054%
Voting14224%
Nomination7112%
Registration5810%
Administration41%

Accessible information

Download this table to search for data from specific police forces, by category of offence or outcome. 

Please contact us if you require the allegations data by police force in another format.

Types of electoral fraud reported since 2010

Description of the tableau

Category Percentage of total
Campaigning 54%
Voting 24%
Nomination 12%
Registration 10%
Administration 1%

 

Category Percentage of total
Campaigning 48%
Voting 21%
Nomination 15%
Registration 15%
Administration 0%

Category Percentage of total
Campaigning 49%
Voting 31%
Registration 11%
Nomination 7%
Administration 1%
Miscellaneous 1%

Category Percentage of total
Voting 43%
Campaigning 37%
Nomination 9%
Registration 8%
Administration 2%

Category Percentage of total
Campaigning 56%
Voting 26%
Nomination 10%
Registration 8%
Administration 1%

Category Percentage of total
Campaigning 38%
Voting 27%
Registration 15%
Nomination 14%
Miscellaneous 3%
Administration 3%

Category Percentage of total
Campaigning 54%
Registration 18%
Voting 13%
Nomination 8%
Miscellaneous 5%
Administration 1%

 

Category Percentage of total
Campaigning 41%
Voting 25%
Registration 23%
Nomination 6%
Miscellaneous 3%
Administration 1%

 

Category Percentage of total
Campaigning 52%
Registration 22%
Voting 14%
Nomination 7%
Miscellaneous 4%
Administration 2%

 

Category Percentage of total
Voting 32%
Campaigning 31%
Registration 28%
Nomination 6%
Miscellaneous 2%
Administration 1%