SOUTHAMPTON'S senior electoral officers are due to hold a meeting with party agents and the police next week, with postal voting likely to be top of the agenda.

Malcolm Dumper, the city's deputy returning officer and executive director of the Association of Electoral Administrators, told the Daily Echo that the issue would also be discussed with the ODPM and the Department of Constitutional Affairs on May 16 - after the results of the General Election were known.

He told the Daily Echo that introducing a system of identity cards would be a possible mechanism to remove the possibility of fraud in postal voting.

Yesterday, it was revealed that the number of applications for postal votes in Southampton had soared from 4,800 at the last general election to over 26,000 for May 5, with that figure set to rise still further.

It means that around a sixth of Southampton's 151,000 electors are now eligible to vote by post - increasing the risk of the city's poll being open to fraud.

Mr Dumper said that returning officers would have to be given more powers to check that the poll had not been abused.

He added that one possible solution to the problem would be to introduce ID cards.

He said: "I recognise the benefit of it. It is certainly a mechanism which would enable the returning officer to allay suspicions."

He said that Southampton's organisation of the election was as "balanced and robust" as it had always been and it was the responsibility of the returning officers to ensure that the elections were seen to be fair.

He added that in Birmingham - where the scandal of postal voting fraud had first surfaced - rules governing the use of the postal vote system clearly were not followed.

He said: "We have had in Southampton what I would call a secure operation to deal with postal votes, no matter what way they are being delivered to us."

He revealed that the council had made arrangements with the Royal Mail to collect postal votes from sorting offices to clamp down on possible abuses.

The city had also arranged a so-called "sweeping" system with the Royal Mail so that on election night, special collections would be made that would deliver postal votes to the count.

He added: "We have, over the past two years, undertaken comprehensive training of our election staff. It is something that had happened in the past and will now include advice on postal votes."