More than 90,000 polling cards have to be resent following printing mistake

A printing mistake meant almost 100,000 voting cards had to be resent across Teesside.

The error affected voters in three parliamentary constituencies, with a total of 96,572 polling cards for the July 4 general election sent out again. Stockton Council says it is working with the company which printed the cards to find out how the misprint happened and how much it will cost.

All polling cards for people voting in person in the Stockton North and new Stockton West constituencies, along with 8,529 people living in the Stockton borough but falling into the new Middlesbrough & Thornaby East constituency, were reissued. Cards had been originally released to Royal Mail for delivery with the official names of polling stations omitted from the address.

Mike Greene, the council’s acting returning officer, said: “Unfortunately, there has been a printing error on the poll cards that have begun to be distributed to residents in the borough in the Stockton North, Stockton West and Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituencies, who have chosen to vote in person at a polling station.

“The error relates to the name of the polling station which is in the first line of the address and will not affect anyone’s ability to vote. To avoid any confusion, replacement poll cards are being sent to all residents (who have chosen to vote at a polling station).”

He said replacement poll cards had been supplied to Royal Mail to be delivered as soon as possible, adding: “Residents are recommended to disregard any polling cards with the error and wait for the replacement to arrive. This does not affect postal poll cards.

“The council commissions a third-party company to print the borough’s polling cards. We will be working with the company to understand how the error occurred and the financial implications.”

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