At least three local councils across England and Wales have admitted that they ran out of time to print and send postal ballots for the European elections to some overseas voters, leaving them effectively disenfranchised.
Three voters contacted the Guardian with details of papers that arrived so late it was impossible to get their vote back to the UK in time, some landing only on polling day. There had already been complaints ahead of the election about missing or late ballots.
Local councils told these voters that arrangements were affected by an extremely compressed schedule. The government had hoped to avoid holding the elections by getting a Brexit deal through parliament.
“In normal circumstances both ourselves and electors usually have far more time to prepare for elections but sadly with the delay caused by Brexit negotiations this one was left very late in being organised,” an official from Bracknell Forest council told voter Scott Little, who lives in South Korea.
“The timeline as such has left it very tight for people to make their applications and for our printers to turn around the information required to be posted.”
He only got his form on polling day, making it impossible to return in time to be counted. The council confirmed that it was not sent out until 14 May.
Tunbridge Wells council told voter Geraldine Coyne, who is visiting her partner in Sweden during the election period, that the ballot papers were sent out late because the printers didn’t have capacity.
“We would usually send postal ballot papers more in advance than this occasion,” a council elections officer said in an email. “However five days before the deadline for postal applications we were still in the midst of the local elections and our printers physically could not print out such a vast amount of ballot papers.”
The situation is “ridiculous and affecting this country’s future,” Coyne said in an email to the Guardian. “People are being denied their vote due to bureaucratic errors.”
The Guardian contacted the Tunbridge Wells official to ask if the council had considered using a different printer. He said he did not make decisions about printing the ballots, and could not comment, but added that the council worked as fast as possible on a difficult schedule to get ballots out.
“Due to the turnaround and the quick timescale, we had less than three weeks to do this election, to get everything organised,” he said. “We did it to the best of our ability.”
Amy Meyrick, from south Wales and now living in Singapore, got in touch with the Guardian to say that her postal ballot only arrived on the day of the election.
When she contacted Caerphilly county borough council she was told that they were only allowed to mail postal votes after 7 May, and that they couldn’t take responsibility for the post service.
Meyrick said: “The short time frame for receiving and sending postal ballots and the council’s lack of accountability is upsetting and frustrating, especially if this problem is going beyond the individual.” If overseas voters are denied their right to vote, it could “potentially sway results”.
