HOW can this happen? I have received a number of letters from Swindon Borough Council advising that a person I have never heard of has been added to the electoral register for my address. I contacted the council who advised that this person would be removed, and I would receive a letter advising of this. It never came.

I received another letter from the council a week or so later advising exactly the same, that this person’s application to be added to the electoral register had been successful. I again contacted the council, but they assured me the name was no longer listed at my address.

A week or so later, a polling card for this person drops through my letterbox. Is there some kind of scam going on here, or just incompetent staff managing the electoral register and giving people the ability to vote when they should not be able to? I also wonder if this is happening on a larger scale.

R NEW Swindon