Thousands unable to vote due to mail problems

Mrs Javens said that she was told by a postman that they were “prioritising parcels at the moment”.

She said: “When the postman came to the door, I asked: ‘Have you not got anything for me?’ He said ‘I’m sorry madam, but they are prioritising parcels at the moment.’”

Jon Pinches, a director of MPS, a company which works with local authorities to print ballot papers and polling cards, said that he was “aware” that parcel deliveries were being prioritised. He added that he had been told of staffing problems at delivery offices by postmen and Royal Mail workers.

Royal Mail denied that parcels were being prioritised and said there are no delays with either parcels or post in West Sussex.

Staff members told BBC Panorama in February that letters are left behind in sorting offices, with tracked items and parcels prioritised for delivery.

In 2023, regulator Ofcom accepted Royal Mail’s assertion that it does not prioritise parcels, but it still fined the postal service £5.6 million for missing targets. The postal service denies that it gives less priority to letters.

First-class expected within one day

Royal Mail offers a Special Delivery service which guarantees delivery by 1pm the next day, and promises to refund late orders. For a 100g letter or parcel insured with compensation of up to £2,500, the service costs up to £17.95. For guaranteed Saturday delivery, this increases to £24.54.

Other Royal Mail services do not have a guaranteed delivery time, although first-class post is expected to be delivered within one business day.

Voters had to apply for a postal vote by 5pm on June 19 and were advised to immediately return them.

But those who have not had time to send their ballots back by post are able to hand in their vote at polling stations or council offices in their constituency, although as a result of changes in the Elections Act 2022, they will have to fill in a form when they do so.

Those who cannot travel to a polling station to cast their vote in-person or who have already gone on holiday have effectively been disenfranchised by the chaos.

Across the UK, 21 per cent of people voted by post in the 2019 general election. The number voting by post is expected to increase by more than a million this year, as more voters are away on summer holidays.

Electoral Commission investigating

The Electoral Commission confirmed that the postal voting problems will form part of its post-election research.

There have been days of back and forth between party leaders, councils and Royal Mail over who is responsible for the postal vote chaos.

The Telegraph understands that the short timescale of the election, problems with printing ballots and delivery issues have all contributed to the delays.

Royal Mail has repeatedly denied that there are backlogs of postal ballots in sorting offices. Sources told The Telegraph that extra staff will be in depots on Thursday to ensure that no postal votes are left ahead of the 10pm deadline for them to be returned.

One constituency that has experienced some of the most severe problems is North West Essex, where more than 2,600 ballots were delayed as the result of “human error” by the council.

The local council chief executive said last week that he was “mortified” by the delays and that council workers were hand-delivering ballots to get them to voters in time.

‘Labour council disenfranchised 2,600 voters’

Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, said on Twitter on Thursday that the Labour-led council had “potentially disenfranchised up to 2,600 postal voters by forgetting to send them their ballot papers”.

She said: “The community is now saddled with council leadership unable to carry out basic functions competently.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We have a specialist elections team that plans every aspect of the elections delivery programmes and works closely with local authorities to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

“We have investigated concerns with the delivery of postal votes in Westbourne and can confirm that all postal votes we have received for the area have been delivered without delay.”