Ahead of the upcoming mayoral elections of London, Sadiq Khan has launched what he claims will be the “biggest ever” drive to sign up postal voters in the capital as reported by The Independent.
Setting a target of registering 50,000 Londoners as “early voters” by 22 April, the mayor of London cited evidence that people with postal votes are nearly twice as likely to take part in elections as those who wait to cast their ballot at the polling stations.
Khan even warned the Labour’s London Policy Forum that the party has been too “squeamish” about encouraging supporters to vote early. This according to him had resulted in a “shocking” situation where the Toris had effectively won December’s general election two weeks before polling day.
He believes Labour had considered postal voting as something which is likely to boost turn-out mainly among older voters, who historically tend to favour Conservatives. He said it was “a perfectly legitimate tool to help voters with busy lives make sure they can exercise their right to vote”.
