The elections watchdog has been urged to formally investigate Birmingham City Council after multiple incidents of breaching ballot secrecy were allegedly flagged by staff in the May local elections.
Officers at 50 polling stations in the Second City had to tell the public repeatedly it was illegal to enter a booth with someone or advise which candidate to vote for.
The full extent of family voting in the city has been revealed after the council had previously provided only a summary of the incidents.
In a response to a Freedom of Information request, an officer in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter had to contend with “aggressive” voters after they were warned they could not speak to each other while in the voting booths.
Further south in Balsall Heath, a man accused officials of fraud when they tried stopping him from “influencing voters”.
This caused a great deal of stress in the presiding officer, it is understood, who was also trying to deal with another “rude” family.
At another polling station, it is understood a man was trying to “influence voting” through “Islamic gestures, blinking eyes and hand signals”.
A woman became “aggressive” when told not to share her vote or talk with others.
Voter leaving a poll station on Green Lane in Small Heath, Birmingham as part of the May local elections
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In Garretts Green, west Birmingham, a father was seen to be allocating “all the poll cards” for his family, “advising” each of them how to vote.
The presiding officer tried to break up the colluding, separating the family into different booths, but to no avail, saying: “It was clear that votes were being influenced.”
Voters in Handsworth opted to “switch language” when told to “stop collaborating” by officials.
The presiding officer relayed this in a report, saying they “did not listen when asked to stop”.
A Workers Party activist leafletting outside a polling station in Birmingham during the May local elections
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One woman tried to confer with her husband by “showing him who to vote” for, then “pointing where to vote”, with the presiding officer trying to step in, having to place their arm out to stop her.
In Quinton, east of the city, a mother and daughter went into a booth together, with the woman telling staff “she wanted to make sure” her child “voted correctly”.
When the accusations of family voting in Birmingham first came to light, Reform UK said the council’s admission “confirms what many people already knew”.
Reform UK won 23 out of 101 wards in the 2026 Local Elections, with the Greens picking up 19 seats and Labour’s collapse leaving them on just 17.
Lord Hayward, the Conservative peer and prominent pollster, yesterday said: “I hope the Electoral Commission will acknowledge that attempts at breaching the secret ballot clearly remain a problem and needs to be investigated.
“I do not believe this is the only council where this was a problem and hope the Commission will identify where else this arose and whether the polling station officers were as active as they were in Birmingham.”
Lord Hayward spearheaded the 2023 ban on family voting.
Allegations of family voting also surfaced in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, where the Greens’ Hannah Spencer won over Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin.
Electoral observers identified up to 32 occasions across 15 polling stations of voters sharing booths or looking over each other’s shoulders, but noted no verbal or physical coercion.
However, Great Manchester Police in March found no evidence of voting coercion, ultimately concluding the investigation was hampered by a lack of suspect descriptions and limited CCTV.
Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage responded, saying it was “not good enough”.
Democracy Volunteers, an electoral watchdog, said there were 291 potential incidents of family voting across the UK during the May local elections.
The Electoral Commission said: “We provide guidance and support… to help protect the integrity of elections, and work with police to ensure allegations of electoral abuse and intimidation are treated seriously.
“We are gathering evidence on the… May 2026 elections and will publish our findings in the coming weeks.”
A spokesman for Birmingham City Council said: “The Returning Officer has passed on all available observations of potential family voting to the police, and we understand the police have decided to take no further action.”
GB News has reached out to West Midlands Police for comment.
