North West Essex postal voting error ‘was avoidable’

An error that delayed the sending of thousands of postal ballot papers before the general election “was avoidable”, an independent review concluded.

The review was commissioned by the leader of Uttlesford District Council after 2,688 ballots were not sent to voters in the North West Essex constituency until days before the election on 4 July.

Peter Stanyon, chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, said it was “clear this error was caused by poor communication” between the council and its supplier.

Council leader Petrina Lees, of Residents for Uttlesford, said Mr Stanyon’s recommendations would be fully considered.

In his report, Mr Stanyon said the council had initially “incorrectly assumed” the delays were due to Royal Mail delivery problems.

However, the delay had been caused by a miscommunication when voters’ data was uploaded to the authority’s “well-respected” supplier, which had been used since 2021.

North West Essex was a new constituency created by boundary changes, made up of 18 of Uttlesford’s wards and four from neighbouring Chelmsford City Council.

Voters who faced delays lived in the Chelmsford area of the constituency.

The North West Essex Constituency Conservative Association first raised concerns about missing ballots on 25 June, eight days after the deadline to register to vote by post.

After the issue was spotted, the council took measures including hand-delivering ballot packs and setting up a polling box at Chelmsford Town Hall.

Mr Stanyon said opportunities to spot the error sooner had been missed.

Some 668 postal votes were not returned before the deadline, and Conservative Kemi Badenoch won the seat with a majority of 2,610.

There was no evidence of actual or attempted electoral fraud, Mr Stanyon concluded.

According to his report, the Electoral Commission determined the error did not require formal assessment.

His recommendations to the council included agreeing outline arrangements every year in case a snap election was called.

“Whilst the issues with the delayed postal vote dispatch had no effect on the outcome of the election, it is important that we understand what went wrong and make sure we apply learning from it in the future,” Ms Lees added.

Councillors will discuss the findings at a meeting on Thursday.