District admits ‘insufficient’ oversight after mail-in voting error

More than 2,600 postal votes in one area of ​​a constituency outside the council area are being delayed, with the returning officer telling the LGC there was “insufficient” oversight of the process.

Peter Holt, chief executive of Uttlesford DC, said “human error on our part” had led to more than 2,600 postal votes being sent out nine days late.

Mr Holt, who is also returning officer for North West Essex, said the problem had affected postal votes in the quarter of the constituency that overlaps Chelmsford City Council’s boundary, rather than his own council.

The extent of that overlap has grown from two to four council wards in this election due to changes in constituency boundaries. But Mr Holt said the overlap “is not a new problem for us” and the current issue “has never happened before”.

The city council is currently distributing ballots in person to try to resolve the problem. But Holt acknowledged that some people will not receive their mail-in ballots on time, “as is the case in every constituency for every election.”

He said such delays are “a common problem” but admitted they were a “bigger issue for us” ahead of this week’s election.

Mr Holt took responsibility for the problem, which he said was caused by some postal votes not being printed and posted for the area in question.

“We asked the printers to print all the regular mail-in ballots,” he said. “We did not notice that those 2,644 ballots were not printed and mailed. When mail-in ballots are printed, they are mailed by the printers. And we oversee that process. We did not adequately oversee it.”

Mr Holt commented: “I am mortified by this situation. We take responsibility for this… This is not a Royal Mail problem. »

But he played down his comments made to the BBC last week that he had to reconsider his position because of the fiasco.

He said: “I would do that in the sense that I would consider my position, yes. But I am not at the moment because I am focused on solving the problem.”

London Borough in talks with Royal Mail

In London, Southwark LBC said it was in discussions with Royal Mail over reported delays in postal votes. A council spokesperson said all 50,518 postal ballots it had processed “were dispatched in sufficient time for delivery by Royal Mail”.

“We understand that there have been delays in the delivery of some ballot papers in SE22 and other areas, and we have raised this issue with Royal Mail management,” the spokesperson said. . “They said they are confident they can deliver all backlogged ballots in time for recipients to vote in the general election. We will continue to monitor the situation closely. »

LGC has contacted the Royal Mail for comment.

Delays are occurring in many parts of Scotland – where postal voting accounts for more than a quarter of the electorate.

Edinburgh City Council set up an emergency service for lost or delayed postal votes last weekend. Paul Lawrence, the council’s chief executive and returning officer for Edinburgh, said voters’ concerns had driven the decision “to invest additional resources and open the municipal chambers”.

Similarly, Fife Council opened its offices on Saturday to allow citizens to have their voting records reissued or handed in.

Malcolm Burr, the chairman of the Election Management Board (EMB) for Scotland, said last week that “many difficulties have been encountered with the distribution of postal votes in this election”.

He added that for postal voting to be a “viable option”, returning officers “must rely on print providers and a predictable and reliable service from Royal Mail”.

“There have been and continue to be issues with suppliers and with Royal Mail across Scotland and the electoral community is working to resolve them as best it can.”

Mr Burr said the EMB believes “there is a need for a major review of capabilities and systems after the election”, adding that “this view is shared within the electoral community”.

In a statement last week, the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) agreed that “the current system of postal voting needs to be reviewed and improved.”

She said that “shorter deadlines for mail-in ballot requests would better meet the needs of voters.”

The AEA expects more than 10 million absentee ballots to be cast in this election, a 20% increase from the 2019 general election.

“With a tight schedule and print and delivery providers working at full capacity, demand is overloading the system,” he said.

“Printing mail-in ballots is a complicated process,” the AEA added. “Personalized mail-in ballot statements must be paired with the appropriate ballot, personalized envelopes, and instruction sheets. Election officials must also conduct security checks, which increase the time it takes to prepare and mail ballots.”