BALLOT papers for November's referendum on a regional assembly for the North-East are to be simplified to avoid a repeat of the confusion that marred this year's European elections.

The controversial witness statement - which forced voters to collect a signature from a third party before their vote could be counted - has been scrapped, making November's referendum the first all-postal election in British history that will not require witnesses.

Critics suggested the requirement for a signed witness statement discouraged some people from voting, either because they lived alone or because they felt it interfered with the secret ballot, and that the procedure was open to abuse.

Election officials have also simplified the procedure for placing one sealed envelope containing the ballot paper inside another. This resulted in thousands of voters having to be contacted at home to cast their votes again after they made a mistake first time around.

The complicated system of lettered envelopes is to be replaced with a simplified number code - Envelope 1 will contain the ballot paper and will be placed inside Envelope 2, which is addressed to the returning officer.

During the European elections, almost 3,000 ballot papers in Sunderland - more than three per cent of the electorate - had to be returned to the voter after they were discovered either to be missing a witness statement or to have the wrong envelope placed inside the other.

In Middlesbrough, 700 ballot papers had to be returned and 690 in Darlington.

The changes are believed to be included in a report due out on Friday from the Electoral Commission into the chaos that surrounded June's elections.

The report was commissioned following allegations of vote-rigging and fraud across the country, which led to the cancellation of proposed referendums for regional assemblies in the North-West and Yorkshire and Humberside.

Douglas Stewart, head of referendums for the Electoral Commission, said: "There are a number of things that we are doing differently this time around.

"There was a feeling that the witness statement disenfranchised some voters and that a single signature by the voter gave the same level of security as the polling station."

A leaflet explaining the voting process will be sent out to all 1.9 million eligible voters around the region during the week beginning October 4. The ballot packs are scheduled to be delivered between October 19 and 21.

Neil Herron, one of the region's leading No campaigners, said: "I still do not trust the system because postal voting is wide open to fraud. Ballot papers go missing, multiple voting occurs and influence can be exerted."