Postal voting has ‘room for improvement’, watchdog admits

The postal voting system has “room for improvement”, the election watchdog has said, after dozens of constituencies were hit by ballot chaos before Thursday’s poll.

As many as 120 constituencies experienced delivery delays or other problems as the postal vote system struggled to cope with soaring demand for Rishi Sunak’s snap election.

This has raised the prospect of legal challenges in the weeks ahead, with thousands of ballots not sent out in time.

Vijay Rangarajan, the chairman of the Electoral Commission, acknowledged in a statement on Thursday that the postal voting system had not worked as well as hoped.

“Today, tens of millions of people exercised their democratic right and had their say at the ballot box,” he said.

“Overall, our initial assessment is that polling day ran smoothly and people were able to cast their votes securely. We continue to support administrators as they undertake counts tonight.

“Millions of people were able to have their say, but we know there is room to improve the experience for some. A record number of postal votes were successfully returned, but some couldn’t vote both in the UK and abroad because of the late arrival of postal votes.”

Kemi Badenoch affected

Among the constituencies affected was North West Essex where Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, was on course to be re-elected on Thursday night.

Ms Badenoch blamed Uttlesford council for more than 2,600 ballots being sent out late, claiming they had been “unable to carry out basic functions competently” and accusing them of forgetting to mail voting papers out.

In response, the council insisted the 2,688 papers in question had been sent out by first-class post at the end of last week, with the majority successfully returned.

Mr Rangarajan also condemned “unacceptable” behaviour towards those on the ballot paper during the election campaign.

“There was a robust and vibrant campaign, but unacceptable abuse and intimidation of candidates,” he said.

“We will collect evidence from people who participated in these elections as voters, candidates, campaigners and administrators, to better understand their experiences. We will recommend improvements to the systems where necessary.”

Rabbi abused

Footage on social media showed Arnie Saunders, a rabbi standing as a Conservative candidate, being “abused and intimidated” by a pro-Palestine supporter at a mosque last week.

Other uncomfortable scenes on the campaign trail included Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, having a milkshake thrown at him during a walkabout, and other objects the following week.

A woman and man have now been charged over the incidents in Clacton, where Mr Farage was set on Thursday night to win a seat in the Commons at the eighth attempt.

Mr Rangarajan concluded: “Delivering a general election is a considerable task, especially so soon after the May elections in England and Wales. New rules were in place this year, including on voter ID where we saw very high levels of public awareness.

“I want to thank electoral administrators across the country for their dedication and professionalism in delivering these well run polls.”