EU referendum: 46% of Leave voters fear vote will be rigged

NEARLY half of voters intending to back the Leave campaign claim the EU referendum will be rigged against them, a new poll has revealed.

Voters will be asked whether or not they support the UK's continued membership of the European Union

Of those certain to vote on Thursday, 46 per cent of Leave supporters agreed it was “probably true” the result would be altered by the authorities, according to a YouGov survey for a London-based radio station.

Only 11 per cent of Remain voters believe the referendum will be fixed. In total, 28 per cent of those surveyed fear the final result will be tampered with.

One in five of those surveyed agreed that the security services were likely to be working with the Westminster Government to ensure the UK continues as an EU member.

The Scotsman’s EU Referendum page: Keep up to date with latest news, polls and features.

The apparent lack of faith in the democratic process follows vocal campaigns on social media for voters to cast their ballots using pens, rather than with the pencils provided in polling booths.

Some users allege pencilled in ballots can be ‘rubbed out’ by polling officials.

Convictions for electoral fraud in Britain are rare.

Police forces across the UK recorded a total of 481 cases of alleged electoral fraud in 2015, an annual report by the Electoral Commission found.

Only four cases of alleged electoral fraud went to court, including three separate cases in which candidates (or in one case the husband of a candidate) were convicted of submitting fraudulently completed nomination forms.

A quarter of all reported cases of alleged electoral fraud were locally resolved by the police. In nine cases suspects accepted police cautions including alleged personation offences where an individual cast a vote as someone else.

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