An election agent responds...
@ David Shepherd: what you describe in California is now done here for postal votes. It has been taking place every day in London for the last week and is a very painful process. Voters put their ballots are in a separate envelope, so nobody will see them until 10.01pm on Thursday.
@ Ken Hagan: my point was that there are many people who want to vote but don't manage to get themselves on the electoral register. We may understand about how registration works and that you need to do it, but a lot of people don't. Only the other day someone said to me "but I pay my council tax"; this person is far from stupid.