Council workers hand deliver ballots after error

Workers from Uttlesford District Council had to hand deliver ballots following an admin error

Council workers have gone door-to-door to deliver postal votes after a "human error" meant 2,600 ballots were not sent out to residents on time.

Uttlesford District Council had previously apologised to residents in the Chelmsford areas of the North West Essex constituency for the delay.

Peter Holt, the council's chief executive, said he was "mortified" by the issue.

A spokesperson for the council said 40 ballots had been delivered by hand. They added: "Where voters have requested it, such as because they are going on holiday and urgently require it, these have been hand delivered by council staff."

'More effort'

It first emerged last week that there were problems with postal votes in the constituency.

Issues over postal votes have also been reported in other areas of the country. The Electoral Commission said it would look at the "administration of postal voting" after the election.

Rebecca Tollfree, 39, from Broomfield, Essex, first registered for postal voting during the Covid pandemic.

Her ballot paper for the general election arrived on Monday, but she will deliver it to a polling station on the day, rather than post it back.

She said: "It just seems a lot more effort then going to the polling station to be honest. I know it's supposed to be easier, but we've had the opposite experience."

Concerns have been raised over the impact these issues could have on the result, depending on the percentage of how many delayed votes are returned.

Last week Mr Holt said: "The proper process is that I shall declare a result at the conclusion of the count next Thursday night [or] Friday morning, and it would be for candidates or voters to determine whether to challenge the result through the usual process.”

'Overburdened system'

There has also been problems with duplicate postal vote packs being issued by Braintree District Council.

A council statement said this had affected eight districts in the area, which have a total of 1,534 postal voters.

The statement asked residents to throw away duplicate packs and apologised to those affected, adding: "We have checked the systems and are satisfied there is no risk of duplicate voting occurring.

"Please be assured that no-one in the Braintree and Witham constituencies will be able to vote twice."

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, said there had been a 20% increase in postal voting since 2019.

A LGA spokesperson added: "This unprecedented increase adds more pressure to an already complex process and overburdened system.

“We are aware of reports of incidents where delays have happened. The postal vote system could benefit from review and more could be done to support Royal Mail and printers to be ready to deliver elections.”

Royal Mail has insisted there is no backlog of postal votes.

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