John Swinney 'troubled' by postal vote delays and fears Scots will lose voting chance

John Swinney has warned Scots could become ‘disenfranchised’ with the General Election because of the delays in postal votes across the country.

Many voters are only starting to receive their postal votes today and now face a rush to send them back ahead of next Thursday’s election. It’s left many Scots unable to vote at all because it coincides with the start of the Scottish school holidays.

That was something the First Minister had warned was an issue when Rishi Sunak announced the General Election for July 4 and he’s highlighted that a ‘lot of seats that are very close contests’ could now be impacted by the postal vote delays.

He said: “In an election where there will be a number of marginal contests in Scotland, because there is a really intense contest going on here in Scotland, I am worried people will be disenfranchised.”

READ MORE: Tories accused of suppressing Scots vote as postal ballot delays leave voters waiting

It’s not the first time Swinney has been critical of Rishi Sunak for the timing of this General Election and had already accused him of being ‘disrespectful’ to hold it at a time when Scotland’s schools had finished and many families would already be on holiday.

Almost a quarter of the electorate use postal votes now and a huge chunk of them have been left waiting to see if they’ll even arrive in time for them to vote before next week.

Swinney pointed to the seats won by the SNP’s Pete Wishart and Stephen Gethins in 2017 when they were elected by 21 votes and two votes respectively as an example of just how close things can get and he is concerned about what is going to happen in the current situation, and it could leave many people in Scotland unable to cast their ballot at all.

He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: "About 25% of the electorate now vote by post, I don’t know what proportion of postal voters have or have not received their ballot papers.

“But when the convener of the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, Malcolm Burr, makes the comments he made of the concern about the conduct of the postal ballot, that is the advice of the senior returning officer in Scotland, the chair of the Electoral Management Board, expressing deep concern about it.

“I think it is something we should be troubled about.

“The day the Prime Minister called the election I expressed my concern this election was going to take place during the Scottish school summer holidays, and various people criticised me for making that comment.

“But here we are, just as I feared we would be, that people leaving Scotland on their holidays have applied for postal votes, haven’t got them through, and it is not in any way shape or form a surprise to me that that is the case.

“I just think it is a deeply unacceptable situation that people will be disenfranchised because the calling of the election has been done at a time which is quite inconvenient for a lot of people, lots of schools in Scotland are already on their holidays, and we’re a week away from polling day.”

The electoral commission say that the short window of time ahead of the General Election meant that it can be more difficult for ballots to arrive and they say it isn't an uncommon situation.

They have told voters that if they can't get their postal sent back in time they can take it along to the polling station on the day, but that doesn't help with the issues of people being unable to vote because people are on holiday.

A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission said: “Anyone who applied before the deadline on Wednesday 19 June and had their application approved, should receive their ballot pack through the post in the coming days. Some people may have received these already. Local authorities and Royal Mail are working to get these out to postal voters as quickly as possible.

“As is the case at all elections, given the electoral timetable, there is a short window of time for administrators to prepare and dispatch postal votes. It is not uncommon for all postal ballots to not have arrived at this point. If a voter’s postal ballot pack does not arrive in time, there may still be options available to voters, such as requesting a replacement from their local authority.

"If voters are concerned their postal vote won’t be sent back in time, they also have the option of handing their postal pack to their polling station on polling day. People with concerns about their postal vote can contact their local authority.

“We recognise the pressures on the postal voting system due to the holiday season. We are continuing to provide advice and guidance to electoral services teams to support them with the postal voting process. Following the election, we will undertake 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.”