Elections chaos: higher voter turnout was not biggest problem

By Hackney Citizen | Tuesday 10 August 2010 at 11:12

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

Election law needs to be overhauled to prevent another voting debacle, the Electoral Commission has told Hackney councillors.

Outlining its interim report on the elections of Thursday 6 May, the Commission’s regional manager Adrian Green said that legislation needs to make clear that any eligible elector who joined a polling station queue by the close of the poll is entitled to vote.

Currently the legislation does not guarantee this.

Mr Green was invited by the council’s Governance and Resources Scrutiny Commission last month to review the mistakes that cost at least 272 Hackney residents their vote.

He said the disarray at six Hackney polling stations and 21 others elsewhere has caused “catastrophic damage to England’s national reputation.”

Based on the voter rejection estimates across the country, only Sheffield fared worse than Hackney.

Those figures, however, do not include people who went home after seeing the queues; the actual level of disenfranchisement may have been much higher.

The interim report blames problems on inconsistent planning, use of unsuitable buildings and inadequate staffing.

Moreover, higher voter turnout was not decisive, as Hackney’s worst performing stations such as Ann Taylor Centre and Trinity Centre did not have the largest turnout.

Only one extra staff member was deployed by the Returning Officer when the scale of the problem became apparent, says the report.

The chair of the council’s Commission, Robert Chapman, also noted issues with the quality of the work of some of the polling staff.

The Mayoral election, which took place in Hackney and only three other local authority areas, only complicated the already difficult election process.

“People haven’t necessarily…taken into account the full complexity of the elections,” said Mr Green.

Conservative councillor Simche Steinberger said that Newham Council, which also had a Mayor election, knew it would have problems and was prepared.

“Why we had to be left behind, I don’t understand,” he added.

The Electoral Commission has now published its full report on the election to the UK Government.

Whether its advice will be heeded, however, is questionable. The Ministry of Justice ignored its previous report on electoral administration in 2008.

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