Polling card printing error hits 100,000 in Stockton

Affecting three constituencies, the error means 96,572 polling cards for the 4 July election will have to be reprinted and resent, according to Teesside Live.

Stockton Council is now reportedly working with its printing company to find out how the misprint happened.

Mike Green, 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).”

Green added that replacement poll cards had already been supplied to Royal Mail on 7 June.

“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,” he said.

The error is not the first to affect voters this year as polling cards wing their way across the country.

Last week, Barnsley Council took the blame – albeit on a more limited scale – after it sent out 2,700 cards with the wrong polling station.

The council’s in-house printing team said the error was computer-based, with the software that produces data for printing rearranging some of the printing stations.

Sarah Norman, Barnsley Council’s chief executive and returning officer, said: “We have sent out replacement poll cards for the general election to around 2,700 people in the Darfield area. These replacement cards now show the correct polling station details.”