The body that represents electoral officers and administrators has said electoral legislation is no longer adequate, amid widespread reports of disfranchisement of postal voters marring Thursday’s general election. The Association of Electoral Administrators says pressure on running the services has mounted over recent years, with elections delivered “in spite of rather than because of the fragmented framework of laws”. It has called for sweeping reforms including a new timeline for postal votes, registration of candidates and powers for officers to investigate errors and reports of disfranchisement when they occur. Laura Lock, the deputy chief executive of the AEA, said: “Election teams are doing their very best to run this snap election, but with a short timetable and an election held when many are on holiday – plus print and delivery suppliers working at capacity – demand has severely tested the system.”
In a report it issued last year outlining comprehensive changes, it also called for “absent voting arrangements fit for the 21st century”, including the option to vote online. An estimated record 10 million people registered for a postal vote this year, up 20% on 2019, the AEA revealed. Of those, 1.3 million applied for a postal vote between the day Rishi Sunak called the election and the deadline for postal vote applications, piling pressure on councils, which must match individual voters with the correct ballot paper, personalised envelopes and instruction sheets.
Among those complaining of losing their vote on Thursday are several dual national British-EU citizens, who have been mistakenly stripped of their right to vote in a general election as a British passport holder. Simona Giordano, a British-Italian professor at the University of Manchester, said the first she knew about her disfranchisement was when her son’s postal ballot showed up but hers did not. “I am quite distressed that one of the most important civil rights I have is being violated. But I am also very concerned, because I have been repeatedly told in the last few days that this is a ‘system error’; it is therefore likely to affect others,” she said. A spokesperson for the acting returning officer for Manchester said it sympathised with Giordano and understood her frustration but “due to a unique combination of circumstances she will not be able to vote in this election”. Mathias Lejeune, a Belgian in the UK for 16 years who became a British citizen after Brexit, said he turned up at the polling station on Thursday morning to be told he could not vote. Some overseas voters who did not get their ballot on time resorted to extraordinary measures. Lawrence Cheung, 62, who lives in France but is voting in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency, said he entrusted his voting envelope to a Londoner who was returning home on the Eurostar from Paris on Thursday morning. Earlier this week, Keir Starmer called on the government to address the failure to get postal ballot packs out on time. But the AEA says it is the system that is at fault. Lock said earlier deadlines for absent voting applications would be “better” and help councils get voting packs posted earlier, including those overseas.
Under existing laws, elections can be called a minimum of 25 days before polling day. The AEA says this is too tight and should be extended to 30 days as is the case for the London mayoral and Greater London authority elections. It also wants powers to intervene when needed to avert disfranchisement, allowing those who did not receive a postal vote the opportunity to get a friend, family member or trusted person to cast their vote on election day. Lock said: “Apart from issuing a replacement postal vote pack, the law prevents returning officers from helping electors whose postal vote doesn’t arrive. We want emergency proxy provision to be expanded to include electors who have not received their postal vote.” The AEA says these problems could be swept away if the timetable for postal vote applications was changed. “Closing postal vote applications 16 working days before a poll, rather than the current 11, would increase capacity to process, print and post out ballot packs and, crucially, give voters more time to post them back,” said Lock. The number of people seeking postal votes has rocketed in recent years, with 10 million this year and 8 million in 2019 compared with 1.7 million in 2010 and about 1 million in the decades stretching back to the 1970s. Data from the House of Commons shows the “turnout” of postal voters is exceptionally high, at more than 83% in the past four elections, representing 20% of the total number of valid votes cast.