Ministers should consider requiring voters to produce proof of identity when they go to the polls, the official elections watchdog has said.
The Electoral Commission said that the Government needed to develop a "comprehensive electoral modernisation strategy" in order to ensure the long-term health of the system.
In its report on this year's general election, the commission said that in the majority of constituencies the elections were well run, without major problems.
However, it warned that the coalition Government's ambitious programme of democratic reforms was likely to add to the pressure on the machinery of electoral administration.
It said that ministers needed to look at ways of strengthening the system in order to maintain public confidence.
Among the measures it recommended was a review of the case for requiring proof of identity for voters casting their vote at polling stations. Currently only voters in Northern Ireland are required to present some form of photographic identification when they go to vote.
The commission said that it had received complaints from a small number of electors who had been unable to vote because someone else had already been issued with a ballot paper in their name.
It also called for a further strengthening of the postal voting system, with the personal identifiers on all returned postal voting statements being verified before the ballot papers are counted. And it said that the voting arrangements for armed forces personnel serving overseas and other overseas electors needed to be improved.
The commission has already issued a special report on the problems which occurred at some polling stations where some people were still queuing when the polls closed at 10pm and were unable to vote. It reiterated its call for ministers to change the law to allow anyone who is in a queue at the close of poll to be allowed to vote.
Commission chairwoman Jenny Watson said: "We are lucky to have inherited a trust-based system from previous generations. But this cannot endure for ever. The basic building blocks of electoral administration need long-term support and reform in order to ensure that voters can be sure that their vote counts."
