GETTING more people to use their votes is a vitally important matter.

The health of our democracy depends on decent turnouts at the polls and various methods have been used to tempt more people to vote at local and general elections.

Postal votes, voting by email and more polling stations are some of the measures tried out in the past few years.

This June, people in the North East and East Midlands will trial a system whereby all voting will be done by post in important European parliament and local government elections.

The experiment will not happen here, however, because there are question marks over the system following claims of abuse in Pendle and Burnley in the local elections of 2002.

In Blackburn, an investigation has also taken place following complaints from Conservatives that Labour activists had collected unopened postal votes from houses in the Bastwell area.

Now a powerful all-party House of Commons committee is to investigate the operation of postal voting with the aim of producing a report before June. It hopes the government will make changes if it finds serious problems.

A thorough probe by the committee is vital. Improving participation in democracy is essential but it must be done in ways that everyone feels are free from abuse.

Anything less will undermine confidence in the very foundations of our democratic system.