Published: Wednesday, 2nd May, 2007 15:24
Borders postal vote fiasco
By Border Telegraph Newsroom
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'Almighty headache'
HUNDREDS of postal voters across the Borders might not have a say in the elections, tomorrow Thursday.
Scottish Borders Council has been inundated with complaints about missing, late and wrong ballot papers.
More than 8,000 Borderers are registered for postal votes ahead of the local authority and parliamentary elections.
But it emerged last week that more than 200 in the Selkirkshire council constituency received the wrong ballot paper.
And as many as 1,000 others across the region hadn’t received any papers at all.
One elderly lady in Earlston has contacted the courts about taking out an injunction to prevent a count being taken until she can cast her vote.
Many others have contacted local candidates for help.
John Greenwell is a council candidate for Leaderdale and Melrose. He said: “This is turning into an almighty headache for everyone. I have been contacted by a lot of people around Earlston who have yet to receive their postal votes and others who have just got them but won’t be able to return them in time.
“There is one lady who is attempting to get an injunction at the court to give her time to vote.”
Almost 10 per cent (8,189) of all votes (101,985) for both the council and parliamentary elections in the Borders are cast by post.
And many of them will miss out on deciding who represents them for the next four years.
Selkirkshire council candidate Vicky Davidson lives in the rural Ettrick Valley.
She told us: “People from all over the area have been contacting me over the weekend that they have either received the wrong papers, for a Tweeddale ward, or no papers at all.
“We have reached the point where there is no way of guaranteeing these people will be able to vote. I feel Scottish Borders Council should go round to deliver and collect all the ballot papers – it is their duty to make sure everyone has a vote.”
Scottish Borders Council vowed four years ago that the shambles that surrounded the counts would never be repeated.
In 2003 Jeremy Purvis wasn’t officially returned as the member for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale until the Friday afternoon – some 13 hours behind the Hamilton seat.
And the first of the 34 council wards wasn’t announced until almost 3 p.m.
Returning officer David Hume insisted his council wouldn’t be last over the counting line again.
And he, along with dozens of his staff, have spent all week trying to sort out the postal mess.
Mr Hume told us: “We want to ensure that as many people as possible who are affected by this do not lose out on the chance to register their votes.
“We are doing everything we can to determine the extent of the problem and to help voters to get their papers on time.”
Scottish Borders Council’s headquarters will remain open until 10 p.m. tomorrow for postal votes to be handed in.
And they can also be handed in to any polling station during voting hours.
Mr Hume added: “There is no need to post them. People can ask their friends, relatives, carers and neighbours to help get the papers in on time by hand delivering them.”
It has also emerged that the scanning machines used to read postal papers in Scotland won’t check signatures or dates of birth, as is done in England, leading to claims that the door is open to fraud.
The delay in postal ballot deliveries has also hit other regions, including the Midlothians and Dumfries and Galloway.
Tomorrow’s polling stations are open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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