Hackney elections farce: who’s at fault?

Tim Shields, acting returning officer and Chief Executive of Hackney Council

An increase in voter turnout, a shortage of polling booths, the resignation of key election managers and varying staff ability were just some of the reasons given by those in charge for the problems that occurred at the time of the 6 May elections.

At its meeting on 14 June, the Hackney Council’s Governance and Resources Scrutiny Commission meeting questioned returning officer Tim Shields on the problems encountered during voting and counting. Shields, who waived his fee for organising the polls following the chaos, stated that he had estimated with a high degree of confidence that only 272 people across six polling stations had not been able to vote.

Nevertheless, the polling-day mayhem generated considerable criticism.  At many polling stations in the borough there were long queues leading up to the close of polls, and the inability of some voters to cast their ballots resulted in protests. Hackney was also the last London borough to declare its parliamentary election results.

Shields noted that Hackney had seen a higher-than-average increase in turnout, combined with the complexity of three different ballots using different voting systems, which meant that it took each voter longer than expected to cast their vote, around 90 seconds rather than 10-30 seconds.

Mr Shields defended his decision to plan staff requirements on the basis of the 2006 local elections (when there was no general election and turnout was far lower). He explained that he had increased the number of clerks at polling stations where problems were expected.

The situation was not helped by the fact that the previous Head of Elections and Deputy Head of Elections had both quit their jobs not long before the election was held.

Related stories:

Council chief forfeits election fee after Hackney poll chaos

Watchdog condemns Hackney election chaos

Council’s conduct of elections “an embarrassment”, say Hackney MPs