Major English council admits polling station staff saw people trying to take part in illegal 'family voting' in May elections - and were subjected to abuse when they tried to stop them

By MARTIN BECKFORD, POLICY EDITOR and CAMERON ROY, DATA JOURNALIST Published: 21:57, 11 June 2026 | Updated: 21:59, 11 June 2026 Polling station staff witnessed people trying to take part in illegal ‘family voting’ at last month’s election – and were abused when they tried to stop them. A major town hall has admitted that officials saw groups of people trying to go into polling booths together and had to step in and tell them it was against the law. And Birmingham City Council has revealed that those supervising the voting were subjected to verbal abuse and even aggressive behaviour when they intervened. It will revive fears over the extent of family voting, where men coerce relatives such as their wives into choosing particular candidates, after police failed to act on concerns raised by election observers earlier this year. Asked by the Daily Mail under the Freedom of Information Act for reports it had received about family voting in the May local elections, Birmingham said: ‘We asked all Presiding Officers to report where they had an instance of “family voting” in their polling station. ‘A number reported that families tried to go into the booths together, but when they were told not to – they went into the booths separately and voted independently. ‘The staff were occasionally verbally abused by electors about this – but they on the whole complied once they realised it was a requirement. ‘In some instances, the elector required assistance, which was provided. Council House in Victoria Square, the headquarters of Birmingham City Council ‘This was supported by an Electoral Commission observer who reported that where more than one person tried to go into a polling booth, the Presiding Officer prevented this from happening, and was, on at least one occasion in their presence, subjected to aggressive behaviour as a result.’ A spokesman for Reform UK said: ‘The FOI response confirms what many people already knew — family voting is taking place. ‘If this is what is happening inside polling stations, just imagine the potential for coercion with postal votes behind closed doors. ‘The authorities can no longer turn a blind eye to these practices. If action isn’t taken now, then we will ensure it is after the next general election.’ Party leader Nigel Farage alerted Greater Manchester Police in February after Democracy Volunteers said its observers had seen ‘extremely high’ levels of family voting in the Gorton and Denton by-election. But the force said the following month it had found ‘no evidence’ of the illegal practice after speaking to officers at all 45 polling stations in the constituency. Mr Farage then urged the Electoral Commission watchdog to rewrite its ‘grossly inadequate’ handbook for polling station staff as it did not tell them what to do ‘in case of undue influence’. He claimed that family voting – a crime under the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 – is ‘rife in Britain’s Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities’. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.