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In a meeting on Wednesday, July 24, the Democracy and Governance portfolio holder, Cllr Nick Lodge, stated that 99 of the voters returned with suitable ID, and just 18 did not vote.
Cllr Sandra Gidley asked the portfolio holder a number of questions on the matter.
She said: “How many voters in Romsey and Southampton North could not vote during the recent general election due to lack of suitable ID?”
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Cllr Nick Lodge answered: “Data has been collected from across the whole constituency and I can confirm that 18 people did not vote on July 4 due to not meeting the voter ID requirements.
“Out of 117 electors initially turned away, 99 returned with suitable ID and were able to vote.”
Cllr Gidley then asked: “Some people are still not aware of the mechanisms which enable them to vote if they don’t have a passport or a driving licence, would he be prepared to make representations that the forms of identification needed could be widened so that more commonly available things could be used instead. I appreciate it is not within his gift, but does he have concerns about it?”
Cllr Lodge responded: “We are obviously obliged by law to check people’s ID according to the mechanisms which are specified, so it’s not been as you say, within the authority of this council to be able to change that I’m afraid.
Moving on to the subject of tendered ballots, Cllr Gidley had further questions.
Tendered ballots are those which are issued under ‘prescribed circumstances.’
These include where it is recorded that an elector has a postal vote but claims not to have applied for one, the postal vote they have applied for has been lost, spoiled or not received, an elector appears on the register of a polling station as already having voted.
Cllr Gidley asked: “How many tendered ballot papers were issued in the recent General Election and what further investigations have been made as a result?”
Cllr Lodge said: “At the July 2024 General Election, a total of six tendered ballot papers were issued. The electoral services manager is establishing the reasons for the issue for these papers.”
Cllr Gidley then said: “I am aware of one case of a lady who went to vote and had to be issued a tendered ballot paper because she was told she had already voted. She is adamant she had not, and, given that we now have ID cards, surely this should not happen.”
Cllr Lodge responded: “In this particular case, I believe it was a question of human error, we take it very seriously but that is what can happen if a poll clerk accidentally marks a wrong name on the form and when they come to check, the person that has come to vote will be shown that they have already voted.
“We aren’t obliged to record the mechanisms for the reasons why these tendered papers are issued, but we do that anyway as much as we possibly can.”
Further questions were then raised about the return of postal votes.
Cllr Gidley said: “Is the portfolio holder satisfied that every postal voter who wished to vote, was able to cast their vote?”
Cllr Lodge replied: “Yes, 88 per cent of postal votes sent out in the Romsey and Southampton North constituency were returned.
“This is a high percentage and is consistent with the 2019 General Election’s 89 per cent return rate.
“While there were highly publicised issues with printers and the Roal Mail nationally, these do not appear to have had anywhere near the same level of impact on voters within this constituency. Our electoral services team kept up regular dialogue with the Royal Mail postal voting team and no reports of undelivered mail were received.
“Additionally, where electors had not received their postal votes, they were able to apply for a replacement ballot pack to be sent to them four working days before the election i.e. from Friday, June 28. Therefore we can be satisfied that the vast majority of people who wished to vote by post were able to do so.
“Postal votes were sent out as quickly as possible from the council’s printers. Three runs of data were printed and sent out between June 17 and 24.
“The election team monitors the volume of returns and where levels are not as expected, contact is made with the Royal Mail postal voting team to ascertain where there are backlogs in delivery or return.”
