Crown Office to probe postal vote claims

‘The Crown Office has been called in to examine allegations that pro-Union campaigners breached electoral secrecy law by examining referendum postal ballot papers to gauge how well the Better Together campaign was doing before the polls had closed.

Complaints were passed to Police Scotland and elections watchdog the Electoral Commission. These arose following comments made by Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader and prominent supporter of the Better Together campaign.

Ms Davidson said during TV coverage of the referendum, 45 minutes after the ballots closed, that the No camp had been “incredibly encouraged” by the results of a “sample opening” of the postal ballot that she said had taken place around the country over the few weeks prior to the poll closing.’

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