Re: No doubt...
I'd go for something slightly stronger than cock-up, more a failure to learn from a project that was canned for political reasons, that had run into exactly the same problems.
It is very difficult to absolutely verify a persons identity, funnily enough the electoral role is one of the sources of identity that you can use, but it does get very cyclical, and it was found that there are more people out there than you think that do not have:
An NI Number
A Passport
A Driving Licence
A Permanent Address
The NHS Number would be great, but a lot of people have no idea what it is, or how to find it, and it wouldn't matter because the NHS won't let you use it. It's great because it's a service that everybody wants and needs, so they don't tend to lie too much when providing personal details.
That leave the credit reference agencies, who want paying.
But then, if you fill in the form, they only have your word for it, you don't need to supply anything else to get on the role. If only we had a, oh wait. The only way you can get a true representation of the population on the electoral role is, if it provides a continuing service that people want, and more and more people don't give a &*££ about voting.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
