Straw ends poll station axe plans

[dipsydoodle]

Proposals to close thousands of polling stations and cut voting hours to save money are "simply unacceptable", Justice Secretary Jack Straw has said.

He has ordered officials to abandon the proposals reported in the Times and which his department had said were only ideas for further consideration.

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Other possible options - part of plans to save up to £65m - were said to include replacing polling cards with e-mail requests, increasing candidates' deposits, reducing security at election counts and fixed term parliaments.

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And Ken Ritchie, of the Electoral Reform Society, reportedly warned that the "health of the democratic process is more important than saving peanuts".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8333760.stm