Thousands fear they will lose vote in UK election after postal ballot delays | Postal voting

Thousands of people fear they will be unable to vote in the general election with delays, human error and Brexit being blamed for missing postal ballot packs in the UK and abroad.

Clarissa Killwick, a British citizen living in Italy, said she could not trust the post to deliver her vote in time.

“I decided to leave nothing to chance and will be going to the UK to vote in person,” said Killwick, who runs a Brexit campaign group for UK citizens in Italy.

Another said they had to courier their ballot back to the UK.

Vienna-based Michael Goldrei said Hackney council in London told him his pack had been posted on 17 June but he started to panic when it had not arrived a week later. It eventually arrived on 26 June. Goldrei said he was “determined that my vote was counted” so he sent it back via DHL at a cost of €45 (£38). “But will others do that?”

Peter Moore has been posting his vote from France for 14 years and blamed Brexit for this year’s delays. “Prior to Brexit, a letter between UK and France took two or three days … since Brexit, it now usually takes a week for a letter to arrive.”

He is worried there will not be enough time to guarantee the delivery of his vote.

Bruce Darrington, who is the chair of the British Overseas Voters Forum and lives in Bangkok, said he feared a high number of postal votes would not reach the UK in time.

The group has partnered with Unlock Democracy and New Europeans UK to investigate people’s experiences this year and come up with solutions for the Electoral Commission.

“At the moment, thousands of people could be putting their votes into postboxes around the world and thinking ‘job done’,” said Tom Brake, a former Liberal Democrat MP and the director of Unlock Democracy. “But in reality their vote could be arriving in the UK weeks after polls have closed and never be counted.”

New Europeans UK and Unlock Democracy have urged the UK to consider setting up “overseas constituencies”, which would allow British people to place their vote in the country they live in. Seventeen countries including France, Italy, Portugal and Romania operate overseas constituencies.

Delays have also been reported in Scotland and England. Postal voters constitute more than a fifth of the electorate.

Most schools in Scotland broke up for the summer holidays at the end of June and many people who had hoped to vote by post are on holiday. The first minister, John Swinney, said the problem highlighted that no consideration had been made for Scottish term dates when the election was called.

Edinburgh city council set up an emergency facility for lost and delayed postal votes at the weekend with a unit providing replacement documentation in the city chambers open from 9am to 5pm each day until the election. Voters are asked to bring photo ID.