For an election to be legitimate, voters must be able to take part.

With Police and Crime Commissioners elected on turnouts of 15 per cent, people have rightly questioned whether they have a strong mandate.
This week’s Carfax by-election for Oxford City Council, with a record low turnout of 8.6 per cent, should be a cause for even greater concern and there are reasons for this.
Three quarters of the ward’s voters are students. With students absent for the holidays, this election was triggered by Labour supporters quickly to maximise their chances of winning. They are perfectly within their rights to do this and I congratulate Alex Hollingsworth on his victory amongst the remaining voters.
Even so, Liberal Democrats believe that everyone should be able to vote and that every vote should count.
With three quarters of the Carfax electorate unable to vote, Mr Hollingsworth was elected by 3.8 per cent of the total on the electoral roll.
He may well have won with the students present; it is shameful they didn’t get the chance to have their say. 
Mark Mann
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Liberal Democrats
Oxford East