Hull ballot papers: Electoral standards 'not met' by officer

Postal ballot papers sent out in the Hull East constituency missed the names of Labour's Karl Turner and the Green Party's Sarah Walpole

A returning officer for the 2015 general and local elections in Hull did not meet the Electoral Commission's (EC) standards, the watchdog has said.

Almost 650 ballot papers were sent out across the city in April without the names of the Labour, Green and Yorkshire First candidates.

The EC said it had assessed the officer as not meeting "performance standards" as a result of printing errors.

Hull City Council said it would prevent similar incidents in the future.

Labour's Karl Turner and the Green Party's Sarah Walpole were left off 484 postal ballot packs for the Hull East constituency in the UK parliamentary election.

'Council acted immediately'

While Yorkshire First's Colin Worrall, who stood in the Bransholme West Ward, was omitted from 164 ballot papers for the local election.

In its report, the EC said: "...Although the errors did not affect the outcome of the election, this could have resulted in those voters concerned not having the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice.

"In addition, the errors could have affected the confidence of those standing for election in the management of the process and the result."

In a statement, the authority said the ballot papers were incorrectly cut by an external printing company and the firm had now put measures in place to "prevent such an episode occurring in the future".

"The council acted immediately on both occasions when problems with the ballot papers were identified.

"We have put our own steps in place with Presiding Officers and Inspectors to identify and prevent any similar incidents occurring in future elections."