RECORD numbers of applications for postal votes have been made across Kent, it has emerged.

A survey conducted by the Kent Messenger Group has revealed that three times as many people have opted to vote by post on May 5 in both the county council and national elections. The deadline for applying for postal votes was on Tuesday (April 26).

But while concern has been expressed over the possibility of fraud, election officials we contacted reported no irregularities.

The increase in applications for postal votes is particularly dramatic in some of the county’s marginal constituencies but the upward trend is evident across Kent.

Medway Council says it has had 25,000 applications for the three Labour-held constituencies of Chatham and Aylesford, Gillingham and Medway, compared with just 5,000 in 2001 - a five-fold increase. Maidstone Council said it expected to be sending out as many as 18,000 postal applications for votes, compared with 5,000 in 2001. It is responsible for all of the Maidstone and Weald constituency and part of Faversham and Mid Kent.

In Michael Howard’s Folkestone and Hythe seat, postal applications have risen from around 2,158 in 2001 to 10,029 in 2005.

In Dover, where Labour is defending a majority of 5,199 in Dover and Deal, more than five times as many people have sought postal votes. Officials say they received 10,632 applications compared to 1,888 in 2001. Swale has seen a four-fold increase, with more than 8,000 postal applications.

In Thanet, applications for votes in the two parliamentary constituencies of Thanet South and Thanet North have trebled, with around 15,000 postal applications made this year compared to 5,000 for 2001.

In the north Kent seat of Gravesham, another Labour marginal, 7,400 applications were lodged compared to 2,792 in 2001 while the figure has trebled in the adjoining seat of Dartford. In Ashford, a safe Conservative seat, about one in ten of the electorate have chosen to vote by post.