Torn postal ballots advantage the BNP
Posted by: Blackburn Labour in Euro elections, BNP on
Jun 2, 2009
UPDATE: Apparently scrutineers from Trafford have complained as well
With twelve possible party lists comprising 93 candidates (plus one independent), the North West postal voting ballot slip for the European Elections is pretty long. It seems a number of voters have torn the paper - returning only the section corresponding with their chosen party and 'X'.
These mutilated ballots are all being rejected. All of them apart from those cast for the British National Party.
The reason for this is that torn ballots are rejected for lack of the 'official mark'. As this mark is printed at the top of the paper alongside the first party on the list, only the 'torn' postal votes for the top party are getting through. In the North West this is the BNP.
This has been picked up by our genius numbers guy and scrutineer Michael Poultney.
He reckons this could possibly amount to several hundred votes across the North West Region.
He has already complained to the Electoral Commission and suggested that the ballot paper be redesigned. This isn't the first time the Commission have been under fire for the design of ballots.
His letter is reproduced below.
Dear Sirs,
Whilst acting as scrutineer of postal ballot papers in the Blackburn with Darwen Borough section of the European Election for North West England, I have noticed that a few postal voters have cut or torn their ballot papers only submitting the portion of each paper in line with their marked X.
The consequence of this is that their paper is rejected for want of official mark - unless their vote is for candidate list No.1 at the top of the ballot paper which happens to be the British National Party. This is because the official mark on the front of the paper is at the top and therefore still intact and that the numbers on the reverse of the paper are also at the top behind section No.1.
Do you not believe that, in future, there is a case for the ballot paper numbers on the reverse being printed lower down the paper leading to all such mutilated papers being rejected? Or do you believe that entries numbered 1 on the ballot paper deserve this extra advantage?
Yours sincerely,
Michael Poultney
Labour Party sub-agent Euro Election
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written by John Egan, June 03, 2009
Maybe this cockup is what it takes to make you (rightly) suspicious of postal voting in general.
written by mpoultney, June 03, 2009
There is nothing improper about this at all. One doesn't actually have to see the paper at all as we have been told this is the situation by the Electoral Registration Officer. Indeed, we are aware of a number of complaints on this issue from across the country.
