2020 electoral fraud data
Overview
Local, mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner elections that were due to take place in May 2020 were postponed until May 2021, in response to the developing Covid-19 pandemic.
Very few polls took place in 2020, which meant that the number of allegations reported to police forces for investigation was particularly low.
Because this was not a normal year for elections in the UK, this data cannot be meaningfully compared with data for previous or future years.
Elections in 2020
Local by-elections took place across Great Britain between January and March 2020. After March, the only elections held – which took place under coronavirus restrictions – were eight Scottish Council by-elections in the autumn of 2020.
15 cases of alleged electoral fraud were investigated by the police. Of these, 10 resulted in no further action and 5 were locally resolved by police.
Allegations data by police force
Use this table to search for data from specific police forces, by category of offence or outcome.
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Election petitions
An election petition is a legal challenge to the result and/or the delivery of an election.
One petition was made about the administration of the 23 January 2020 local by-election in the London Borough of Brent. It was claimed that the ballot papers had not been counted correctly and the wrong candidate had been elected. The petition was unsuccessful.