Postal vote chaos threatens marginal seats as ballots delivered late

Postal ballots have not been delivered on time in a string of marginal seats, prompting warnings that the chaos could lead to results being challenged.

The Telegraph understands that the crisis has been caused by councils not printing enough ballot papers and Royal Mail not delivering them on time.

The surprise July election coincides with thousands jetting off for their summer holidays.

The election watchdog said holidaymakers had fuelled an unexpected surge in demand for postal votes, and that it would review the issue after the election.

Voters had to apply for a postal vote by 5pm on June 19 and were advised to immediately send them off.

However, thousands are still to receive their votes despite there being less than one week until the election on July 4, with at least 13 constituencies across the country affected.

Eight of these are marginal, and so postal votes will be more important in determining the result. Officials have said that the delayed deliveries could be grounds for candidates challenging the outcome.

One affected constituency is North West Essex, where Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, is fighting to retain her seat.

No fewer than 2,600 postal votes were sent out late in the seat by Uttlesford District Council following “human error”.

Peter Holt, its chief executive, has been forced to apologise and said candidates could challenge a close result on election night because of the delay.

“It would be for candidates or voters to determine whether to challenge the result through the usual process,” he added.

The council has resorted to sending staff to hand deliver ballot papers.

A number of the councils responsible for running the election in the affected constituencies said that they were not to blame because they had dispatched all postal ballots on time.

However, Royal Mail sources said that the issue was not with them and that in some constituencies, postal ballots were still being dispatched by councils on Friday.

In Scotland, at least six constituencies have seen delays.

John Swinney, Scotland’s First Minister, has warned that the delays could “disenfranchise” voters north of the border, more than a quarter of whom have applied for a ballot to be delivered to them.

The Scottish school holidays fall earlier than in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Malcolm Burr, the convener of the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, called for a “major review” of the postal vote system after the election.

“There have been and remain issues with both suppliers and with Royal Mail across Scotland which the electoral community are dealing with as best we can,” he said.

The contests in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes and Mid Fife, North East Fife and Dunfermline and Dollar are all run by Fife Council, who said there had been “national issues with the printing and delivery of some postal votes”.

Niki Hutchison, 45, who lives in Edinburgh East and Musselburgh with her husband and two children, said that none of the members of her household who had applied had yet had their postal votes arrive.

Her parents, who live in Edinburgh West, have also not received their votes.

“There are a lot of things that don’t seem to be working in the UK right now, so this just feels like an example of another one,” Mrs Hutchison said.

Edinburgh City Council said it had dispatched all postal votes “as soon as the legal timeframe allowed” and that an emergency facility has been opened at the city chambers to allow voters to pick up their ballots, ahead of the Scottish school holidays, which begin next week.

In Fife, the council will be open on Saturday for voters to collect their ballot and fill it out in a private booth, enabling them to cast it immediately.

‘Surprise’ of the election

In east London’s Stratford and Bow constituency, voter Emily Hewertson said that Tower Hamlets Council had blamed the “surprise” of the election for her postal vote not arriving before Tuesday, when she left the country on holiday.

“I don’t really agree as everyone knew an election was due at some point this year and their own website said it would arrive 10 days before polling day and other councils have managed to get theirs out on time, including my parents,” she said.

“I did my part by meeting the deadline to apply for a postal vote, so it’s a shame they couldn’t do theirs and now I’m being denied my right to have a say which is wholly undemocratic.”

Tower Hamlets Council has been approached for comment.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who is standing for re-election in Chingford and Woodford Green, said that his prospective seat had also been affected and that both Royal Mail and local councils needed to take action.

“We are demanding they act immediately,” he said.

Other seats where postal voters have not received ballots include Dulwich and West Norwood, Oxford East, Glastonbury and Somerton, and Rutland and Stamford.

Voters in Glastonbury and Somerton reported being sent to a library in Frome to pick up their ballot, rather than it being sent to them in the post.

A Somerset Council spokesman said that voters who had not received their postal ballot by Friday could apply for a replacement to be issued.

Oxford City Council and Southwark Council said they had dispatched their ballot papers on time and they were not responsible for the delays.

The Conservatives are the party most likely to lose votes because of the delays, Prof Sir John Curtice, Britain’s most eminent polling expert, suggested.

“I’m tempted to suggest that people who can afford to go abroad on holiday may be slightly more likely to vote Conservative,” he said.

“It was a Conservative Government [decision] to hold an election in the beginning of July so they have not got anyone to blame but themselves.”

But senior Scottish Tory insiders said the delays primarily affected new postal voters, who are more likely to be younger voters and therefore less likely to be Conservatives.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “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.

“Where concerns have been raised, such as in Scotland, we have investigated and confirmed all votes are being delivered as soon as they enter our network.”

A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said that they reconsigned the pressures on the postal voting system as a result of the holiday season.

They continued: “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.”

A spokesman for Rutland County Council said: “All postal votes for the Rutland and Stamford Constituency were issued to Royal Mail on time in two batches (one batch issued on 20th June and the other on 24th June).

“We are aware that some constituents are yet to receive their postal ballot papers from Royal Mail and are taking steps to make sure they can obtain replacement postal ballots if needed.”

Waltham Forest London Borough Council has been approached for comment.