Political

Voters given wrong information in marginal Peterborough ward

One more electoral administration story from this year’s local elections, following the problems with ballot paper errors and people being asked to vote for the wrong ward. This one is from Peterborough where some voters were told they had one vote rather than two:

Two seats were up for grabs in Fletton and Woodston in the Peterborough City Council elections, which were taken by Andy Coles (Conservative) with 997 votes and Imtiaz Ali (Labour and Co-operative Party) with 933.

However in one polling station 87 voters were told only to choose one candidate rather than two – and with runners-up Lisa Forbes and Andrew Willey eventually finishing just behind on 911 and 900 votes respectively the extra votes could have proved crucial…

A city council spokeswoman said: “An issue was reported to us on the morning of polling day by the presiding officer of a polling station in Fletton & Woodston ward.

“The presiding officer in question is very experienced in the role but made a genuine mistake in advising a number of people to vote for only one candidate in the election to appoint two councillors for the Fletton & Woodston ward.

“Each voter should have been advised to vote for two candidates as there are two seats up for election. Directions in the polling booths and on the ballot papers did make it clear how many candidates to vote for.” [Peterborough Matters]

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