Calls for rerun of Essex election after postal ballots 'error' prevented some from voting

A local council has placed itself under review amid calls for a rerun of its election poll because a "handful" of residents could not vote after a "human error" meant postal ballots were sent out late. A total of 2,644 postal votes in the Essex North West constituency were sent out late by Uttlesford District Council.

Senior Tory Kemi Badenoch retained the seat in the election on July 4, winning with 19,360 votes against Labour's Issy Waite who received 16,750, a difference of 2,610. But there are calls for a redo of the poll because some were allegedly unable to vote.

"There were people at the polling station saying they knew people who had missed out on the chance to vote," Broomfield resident Rebecca Tollfree said. Ms Tollfree, 39, was impacted by the error that caused her postal vote to be sent out late but she was able to vote in person.

Read more: 'I tried pie and mash for the first time ever from the oldest family-run pie shop'

Read more: Essex MP to resign as deputy council leader after election result

“I really do think there should be another vote, it feels like the democratic thing to do. I imagine those who couldn’t vote must feel disenfranchised and frustrated. I think the council chief executive should step aside, the buck needs to start somewhere and he should be held accountable,” Ms Tollfree said.

Peter Holt, chief executive of Uttlesford District Council, spoke to BBC Essex on Tuesday morning. He said: “I know there is at least one person, and there will be more than one, there might be two, might be five, might be a couple of handfuls, I can't say. But there absolutely weren’t hundreds of thousands of people. It is a problem but it’s a very, very small number of people who lost out on the opportunity to vote because of the late dispatch.”

Leader of Uttlesford Council, Petrina Lees, has commissioned leading independent electoral expert Peter Stanyon to review the issues with delayed postal vote dispatch in the constituency.

On commissioning the review, Cllr Lees said: "The running of elections is understandably in the hands of the Returning Officer, rather than politicians, but nonetheless it is important that we take an oversight role to ensure that the issue in the last couple of weeks is understood, with learning from it applied in future. I have therefore consulted the Association of Electoral Administrators and commissioned Peter Stanyon to carry out a prompt, thorough, independent review.

"Transparency is important, so I undertake to publish his report in full. In the meantime, I am grateful to all concerned for the hard work that went into so successfully sending out and receiving back these postal votes, so that the verdict of the people of North West Essex in choosing their MP for the next five years is not in question."

An Electoral Commission spokesman said: "We don’t want to see anyone lose their opportunity to vote, and we are currently undertaking research with voters and electoral administrators to understand their experiences at this poll. The administration of postal voting is one of the areas we will look at.”

Uttlesford Council was contacted for comment.