Kent voter furious and says ‘Royal Mail deprived me of my right to vote’

A furious voter has blamed Royal Mail for “depriving” him of his voice in Thursday’s general election after his postal ballot failed to arrive before he went on holiday.

Despite applying weeks in advance as he knew he would be away for polling day, Stephen Barnes, from Eastling near Faversham, did not receive it in time.

Mr Barnes had a family holiday to Torquay long-planned to celebrate his father’s 90th birthday.

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However, when the election was called to take place on July 4, and he realised he was away on the date, he applied for a postal vote from Swale Borough Council (SBC) “very early in the process”, he said.

Mr Barnes says he requested the ballot on June 6 or 7 for himself and two others in his family and received confirmation from the council on June 11 to say it had been “registered, received and would be dispatched in the first tranche”.

“So you would naturally expect the postal vote to arrive in time to accommodate you being away, which is the whole point of applying for it,” the 61-year-old said.

He says SBC told him his vote had been posted on Friday, June 21 – a week before he left home – and officers last Tuesday (June 25) told him the authority had also received similar complaints.

But when the family left home on Friday, the papers had still not arrived.

Mr Barnes said: “We’re away until after the election so basically I’ve lost that voting opportunity. I felt extremely frustrated – it’s important that you have a voice about how your country is run.

“This is a once-in-five-year opportunity to express those views, so I felt quite strongly that it was an important election to be voting on, and having the opportunity to do so is essential to me.

“Taking the measures plenty of time in advance only to find that the administration of it was poorly delivered – I felt quite frustrated that I was going to lose out on an opportunity to vote. Effectively Royal Mail has deprived me of my ability to vote.”

Mr Barnes added the reliability of mail is not normally a problem in his village and receives his post “fairly timely”.

A spokesman for SBC said: “We want everyone to be able to vote in the way that best suits them. Unfortunately, the snap nature of this election meant both we, voters and printers had very little time to prepare for it.

“Despite this, we were able to send the ballot papers to the printers and subsequently to Royal Mail for delivery, on schedule, meaning the vast majority of our postal votes have been delivered and on time.”

It has been reported that elsewhere in the country there have been delays in postal votes being sent with voters in more than 90 constituencies raising concerns.

Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake has been tasked with “investigating this urgently”, health minister Maria Caulfield told broadcasters on Tuesday morning.

He suggested Royal Mail should have anticipated extra demand for postal votes during the summer holidays amid fears some could be left disenfranchised by the issues because they are already overseas.

Mr Hollinrake told the Telegraph he did not think there was any issue at play “other than Royal Mail being competent and fulfilling their obligations under the USO (Universal Service Obligation)”.

“There’s a resourcing issue,” said the minister. “They have recruited extra people and I welcome that but they’ve got to make sure they’ve got the right number of people to deliver the mail at busy times like this.”

Many of the 40,000 postal ballots in Medway had not been delivered as of yesterday, it was confirmed, prompting election officials at Medway Council to reassure residents they would still be able to get hold of one.

Some people use postal votes as a convenient alternative to heading to the polling station, but many others have limited mobility and can only vote via this method.

A spokesman for Royal Mail stressed the postal vote system relies on a network of hundreds of local authorities and printers, who are responsible for the production of ballots before they reach the postal service.

He added that in Medway, all post offices are now clear of ballot packs – meaning they have been dispatched.

“We have a specialist elections team that plans every aspect of the elections delivery programmes and works closely with local authorities to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible,” the spokesperson said.

“We have investigated concerns and can confirm all votes that enter our network are being delivered.”

In a further statement, the service insisted there was “no backlog” and any postal votes handed to Royal Mail on time would be delivered to homes before Thursday.

Additional measures are in place to help with the delivery of completed postal votes with extra staff in mail centres on Thursday evening picking out ballots.

A spokesman added: “We’ll be carrying out sweeps at our mail centres and delivery offices to ensure all postal votes in the network are identified and returned to the relevant local authority before the close of poll stations.

“Where specific concerns have been raised, we have investigated and confirmed ballot packs are being delivered as soon as they arrive in our network.

“We would welcome a review into the timetable for future elections with all stakeholders to ensure that the system for printing and administering postal votes before they are handed to Royal Mail works as smoothly as possible.”

All postal votes must be received by local authorities by 10pm on polling day to be counted.

The Electoral Commission says anyone with a postal vote can still take the ballot to a polling station in person.

Guidance from the commission states: “When handing in postal votes, you will need to complete a form. You will need to include your name and address, how many postal votes you are handing in and why you are handing in those postal votes.

“Campaigners can only hand in their own postal vote, and postal votes for up to five other people that are either close relatives, or someone they provide regular care for."

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