‘My son has been disenfranchised’ – Anger as postal votes not received

‘I feel very angry. I know (my son) is angry,’ said Niven Rennie.

One man said his son “has been disenfranchised” after some people failed to receive their ballot papers in time to have their say in the General Election via postal vote.

On Tuesday, Royal Mail faced backlash from Conservative politician Kevin Hollinrake after it was reported some people would not receive their ballot papers in time for polling day on Thursday.

One of those people includes Niven Rennie’s son – an RAF officer based in England, who does not wish to be named.

Mr Rennie, 62, from Ayr in Scotland, said he is “angry” his son has yet to receive his postal vote for his constituency of Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and will not be able to cast his vote.

Mr Rennie, a retired police officer who now works as a business consultant, told the PA news agency: “To me, it brings into question the whole democratic process.

“I feel very angry. I know (my son) is angry.”

His son contacted his local electoral office and asked to have his father vote on his behalf, but was told it was against the law to change his postal vote to a proxy one.

“The ultimate for me is my son has been disenfranchised and his vote will not count,” Mr Rennie said.

“The understanding of the British constitution is that every adult person should get a vote. What has happened here is that a whole lot of people have been disenfranchised.”

Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock is a marginal constituency as, in the last general election, it had an SNP hold with 20,272 votes compared with the Conservatives who received 17,943 votes.

“It does call into question a number of results because they are marginal,” he said.

“I’m absolutely flabbergasted. I would have thought in a mature democracy like the United Kingdom that we could make sure these things were operated.”

Mr Rennie added he believes the calling of the General Election during the Scottish school holidays had led to an increase in postal votes.

“If you call an election during the Scottish school holidays, that is going to cause an influx of postal vote applications,” he explained.

“That is, I believe, what has flooded the system. I don’t think there was any consideration given to that when the election was called.”

On Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Rishi Sunak is not concerned that some people could be disenfranchised by the issues.

“We’re working closely with the Electoral Commission, returning officers, Royal Mail and the print suppliers to support the resolution of these issues,” he told journalists.

Mr Rennie said: “I think any Prime Minister should be concerned about people being disenfranchised.

“If you believe in democracy, then you believe in one person, one vote, and if actually you’re creating a system whereby some people are being robbed of that right, then you should not be defending that.”

Janet Wertli has lived in Zurich, Switzerland, for around 11 years, having previously resided in Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and Chislehurst, in south-east London.

She applied for a postal vote, but has yet to receive it so will be unable to cast her vote for the Liberal Democrats in time for the General Election.

“I applied for it just before the deadline which was around June 18 because I’m registered in Bromley for voting in Eltham and Chislehurst,” the 54-year-old housewife told PA on Tuesday.

“I kept watching the Bromley website to see when they were posting them out because I was in Scotland over the weekend, so the idea was that I could, of course, take it with me to the UK, post it when I was there and it would definitely arrive in time.”

She said organisation surrounding postal voting should have been better.

“It’s not the first time we’ve had an election in the UK and it’s not the first time there have been postal votes and for the people who say it was such a rush to get organised, it was not,” she added.

“It’s not rocket science – we’re just sending out polling cards.”

The Eltham and Chislehurst constituency is the responsibility of the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

A spokesperson from Greenwich Council told PA: “We encourage overseas voters to apply for their postal votes early, or register for a proxy vote, to allow enough time for airmail to arrive and be sent back.

“In this instance, Ms Wertli applied for a postal vote from an international address around four weeks after the General Election was announced. Unfortunately, we cannot control postal or airmail delays.”

A South Ayrshire Council spokesperson told PA: “We are aware of delays nationally with postal votes.

“The delays have not been a result of local processes, and South Ayrshire Council have taken urgent steps to ensure that, where possible, all residents can cast their vote on Thursday.

“Legislatively, the first day that South Ayrshire Council were able to issue replacement postal packs was Friday June 28 – many were re-issued on Friday and work continued on Saturday.

“If voters do not receive their postal vote on Monday July 1, they should contact our Elections Office on 01292 612300 to organise a replacement.”