Uncertainty over UK general election date hikes up organising costs

Uncertainty over the general election date is hiking up costs for organisers, who are also finding that their venues of choice have been booked out by pre-Christmas events.

One possible knock-on affect anticipated in some parts of the country is that smaller venues will have to be found, meaning less room for workers and later declaration times than the 2017 election as a result.

Finding venues to act as polling stations and counting centres is just one of the emerging challenges electoral administrators have to face as possible dates shift to November and even December.

“Availability is an issue. If there is very short notice, for example, it might be an issue if a hall is being used by an amateur dramatic society,” said Laura Lock, thedeputy chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA).

“But the bigger issue we are finding is with count centres. We know of at least one case where both their first and second choices have been both booked for Christmas parties.”

“They couldn’t let them in without cancelling the Christmas events. In the case of a sports centre doing that, for example, we can only pay the normal rental. We can’t pay them for the loss of income.”

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The looming Christmas period is also having an effect on costs such as those for the rental of PA and staging equipment, which are also in demand for other events. There is a ceiling of £800 of funding from the government for staging and PA expenses, but costs are expected to be in excess of that in many parts of the country as Christmas approaches.

Major local authorities who are keeping a close eye on the situation include Birmingham city council, which organises the counts for a number of constituencies across a large area. When the snap election was called in 2017, neither the Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena or the International Convention Centre were available and six separate venues had to be hired as result.

Elsewhere, Southampton city council said: “Until an election is called, the date is unknown and therefore accommodation/locations cannot be confirmed and will be subject to their availability at that time. It is hoped that in such an event the O2 Guildhall will be free.”

Other local authorities, such as Sheffield city council, had been making provisional bookings.

There are two ways to vote if you can’t be there on the day of an election: a postal vote or a proxy vote. To apply you must already be registered to vote. 

Voting by proxy

A proxy vote means you nominate someone to vote on your behalf. Anyone can do this provided they are registered to vote and allowed to vote in the same type of election.

You need to apply at least six working days before election day if you want to vote in England, Scotland or Wales. There are different forms to fill in depending on the reason you want the proxy vote, which can be:

• You will be away.

• You will be at work.

• You will be attending a course.

• You are disabled.

• You are living overseas.

• You are serving overseas as a member of the armed forces.

• You are a British Council employee or crown servant (for example diplomatic or overseas civil service).

There’s a completely different form to apply to vote by proxy in Northern Ireland, where you need to apply at least 14 working days before election day.

Voting by post

Anyone registered to vote in an election can apply for a postal vote. You do not need to give a reason. If you live in England, Scotland or Wales you need to fill in this form and then send it to your local electoral registration office. If you want to vote by post in Northern Ireland, you need to follow the instructions here from the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. These need to arrive in good time before the election.

Which is best?

It is up to you, depending on your personal circumstances, but with heightened expectation that the prime minister, Boris Johnson, will call a snap general election, administrators are advising people to consider a proxy vote. They want to avoid a repeat of the debacle in May when postal votes arrived too late to be counted for the European parliamentary elections.

Getting help

If you need help, you should contact your local electoral registration office. You can use this service to find its address if you live in England, Scotland or Wales.

If you live in Northern Ireland you need to contact the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.

Despite the challenges, Lock insisted that administrators would deliver, despite having to put their own holiday and other plans on hold.

“People will deliver. That said, we have a print industry that does not have infinite capacity and we are talking about millions and millions of documents that have to be counted in a short space of time,” she said.

Under the current provisions, parliament will have to be dissolved 25 working days before voters go to the polls if an election is called. From the point when parliament is dissolved, politicians cease to be MPs and will campaign for re-election – if they choose to stand again.

Lock’s association has called on the government to carry out a risk assessment of the UK’s ability to hold a snap general election.

The AEA said that it had “genuine concerns” about the expectation that elections would always be safely delivered regardless of the landscape, timing, funding or capacity of people delivering them.

“This view is becoming unrealistic,” it warned in a report, which highlighted “ongoing uncertainty surrounding electoral events”.

The administrators said they were concerned that an apparent lack of capacity and “the government’s unwillingness to allow officials to engage with the electoral community to make sensible contingency preparations will continue to introduce significant risk to the delivery of unscheduled polls.”