Polling card failure probe

May 9 2008 by Rebecca Edwards, Chester Chronicle

MANY Frodsham residents did not receive their polling card before election day.

Vale Royal Borough Council is investigating why cards were not delivered to residents around Kingsway, Top Road and Red Lane.

Candidate and town councillor Brian Lloyd has complained to the election returning officer and said: “There must be quite a few residents, particularly elderly people, who probably don't realise they can still vote without taking a card to the polling station, so long as their name appears on the electoral register.”

He added: “Also, a temporary polling station was put up at Weaver Vale School in Ship Street, because of all the building work going on there, but access was terrible.

“This doesn't help democracy because some votes must have been lost, not just for me, but all election candidates somewhere along the line and that's very bad and should not be allowed to happen again.”

Vale Royal spokeswoman Rachel Kerslake said: "We were made aware of the polling card delivery issues in Frodsham just before polling day and were able to advise people who called they could vote without the card.

“Following an investigation, we understand that one of the canvassers may not have delivered some of the polling cards.

"The importance of delivering the polling cards timely and accurately is made a priority by the elections team and we very much regret this situation. A full internal investigation is currently taking place.

"Regarding the access issues at Weaver Vale School, we were not kept fully informed by the school, who accepted and agreed to our stringent access criteria for a polling station."