The stated purpose for Brighton and Hove's application for an all-postal ballot at the local elections next May (The Argus, November 11) is to encourage more people to vote.

Make no mistake, this proposal is more about political vanity than bolstering democracy. Has it never occurred to those who offer themselves for election that we, the electorate, consider them all so woefully inadequate that we may decide not to give any of them our support? How patronising that they think we should vote for the least incompetent of the inept on offer.

Too many politicians have been nothing other than party hacks before they stand for election. The accent is on political professionalism rather than rounded, experienced people with tested character who have made their way in the world and have some real achievements behind them before they enter politics.

If we have fully postal elections, how will anyone ensure the persons for whom voting papers are intended receive them? This may well be a problem in buildings where there is one postal delivery point for multiple occupants.

What if papers go astray or are stolen? Will someone who claims not to have received a voting paper be issued with another? Presumably, ballot papers will not be identifiable to the voter - otherwise, where is the secrecy?

Or are all papers to be sent by recorded delivery? If each individual has to stand at the front door to acknowledge receipt of voting papers, delivery could take weeks. Distribution is likely to be more administratively complicated and costly than the present polling station system.

Much more worrying is how anyone will ensure the postal ballot is a free secret vote. There was evidence at the last General Election of some postal voting being hijacked by family and community elders. It takes little imagination to envisage the exercise of coercion on a more widespread scale if postal voting is the norm.

The unique foundation of our democratic system is the secret ballot. No matter how browbeaten a person may be at home, when they go to the polling station no one can see how they cast their vote. Is this no longer of value in Tony Blair's Cool Britannia?

There is nothing wrong with the present system. By all means, have more polling stations in supermarkets and the like but if politicians want more votes, it is up to them to engage our interest and support, not to tinker with the system to satisfy their egos and, in so doing, degrade the validity of the result.

-Tony Sturley, Warren Way, Telscombe Cliffs