- Affiliation of Electoral Directors (AEA) is asking for earlier deadlines
- Emergency proxy powers would assist individuals who didn’t obtain postal votes
- A report 10 million persons are believed to have registered for a postal vote
Election regulation wants pressing reform, officers in control of polls have warned, as fears develop that many citizens could have been disenfranchised by postal poll delays and ID necessities.
The Affiliation of Electoral Directors (AEA) is asking for earlier deadlines for voters making use of for postal ballots, giving councils extra time to print and put up packs – amid experiences that 1000’s weren’t obtained earlier than polling day.
Emergency proxy powers also needs to be launched to rescue individuals who didn’t obtain their postal votes in time, the physique mentioned.
Laura Lock, deputy chief govt of the AEA, informed The Guardian: ‘With a brief timetable and an election held when many are on vacation – plus print and supply suppliers working at capability – demand has examined the system.’
A report 10 million persons are believed to have registered for a postal vote this yr, up 20 per cent on the determine for 2019.
Election regulation wants pressing reform, officers in control of polls have warned, as fears develop that many citizens could have been disenfranchised by postal poll delays and ID necessities
The Affiliation of Electoral Directors (AEA) is asking for earlier deadlines for voters making use of for postal ballots, giving councils extra time to print and put up packs – amid experiences that 1000’s weren’t obtained earlier than polling day
However 1000’s of ballots are feared to not have arrived in time, triggering a blame recreation between Royal Mail, councils and ministers.
Yesterday Enterprise and Commerce Secretary Kemi Badenoch hit out at Uttlesford District Council in her Essex constituency after 1000’s of postal ballots weren’t even despatched out, doubtlessly jeopardising her place in a future management contest.
She accused the council of getting ‘doubtlessly disenfranchised as much as 2,600 postal voters’.
‘A lot of questions on doorstep at this time about lacking postal ballots in North West Essex and all of the shenanigans this may entail,’ she wrote on X.
The council has insisted that lacking packs have been posted first-class final week and that some have been hand-delivered to voters who have been as a result of go away earlier than polling day.
But when the election result’s tight and results in authorized claims for the method to be re-run, Mrs Badenoch could be counted as a candidate moderately than an MP – and so could be ineligible to run for any Conservative management contest.
Royal Mail mentioned there was no backlog of postal ballots and that workers checked supply officers to make sure any remaining packs have been taken to councils earlier than polls closed.
A spokesman mentioned: ‘We’re happy with the position we play within the democratic course of. There isn’t a backlog in our community.
‘We stay assured that postal votes handed to us on time have been delivered in time for polling day.’
Yesterday was additionally the primary normal election the place voters have been required to convey photograph ID to fight fraud, with some experiences on social media of individuals being turned away for not having the precise paperwork.
Enterprise and Commerce Secretary Kemi Badenoch hit out at Uttlesford District Council in her Essex constituency after 1000’s of postal ballots weren’t even despatched out, doubtlessly jeopardising her place in a future management contest
The Electoral Fee mentioned: ‘That is the primary normal election the place ID is required so there could also be circumstances of people forgetting their ID.
‘We will probably be amassing proof after the election to gauge the influence of the brand new requirement.’
There have been additionally claims of makes an attempt at voter intimidation, with a van parked exterior Brick Lane Mosque in East London bearing the slogan: ‘A vote for Labour is a vote for genocide.’
