As you can see in this update today (4 May) from John Hewitt (interim CEO, Durham County Council) there are far more issues with the ongoing elections than we had expected.

Within Nevilles Cross, I am shocked to see the postal ballot issues, have now extended to a requirement to print emergency new ballot papers so they have some for the polling stations on Thursday.

I have never seen an election like this.

I will read with interest the investigation results from Durham County Council but for now, our united effort must be to ensure every voter who wishes, has the right, and ability to cast their vote.

As requested by the council CEO, we are making his statement available on the website below. Highlighted Nevilles Cross news in RED, and generic advice about any issues with voting in YELLOW.

Can I remind you, like never before, do not leave voting to others, as they may well be leaving it you!

Dear Group Leader,
I write by way of update to my email to you dated Friday 30 April 2021.

Postal Votes

The external printer has confirmed that there are no further postal votes to be printed and distributed for County Durham. In relation to the specific areas I referenced in my email on Friday, the position is as follows:

Nevilles Cross division – As advised on Friday, the postal vote packs were being delivered by royal mail from 29 April 2021. We have been receiving postal votes back from this division. Anyone who has not yet received a postal vote is advised to contact the team on the number below and we will arrange for a replacement to be hand delivered.

Parish Areas of Hawthorn, Witton-Le-Wear, Durham South Ward of City of Durham Parish; and Rookhope – As per my email on 30 April, these ballot papers were delivered by our external printer on Friday and we arranged for these to be hand delivered on Friday/Saturday.  The printer had said that no postal votes had been sent out for these areas prior to our hand deliveries. However, to ensure the integrity of the process, we will be putting in an additional step as part of the postal vote opening process to check that there is no duplication. In these areas, a record of the ballot paper number will taken at the same time the identification documents are scanned to ensure that there is no duplication.

Merrington – The printer had advised that no postal votes had been sent out for this area so we made arrangements for postal vote packs to be hand delivered on Saturday. However, we became aware on early Saturday morning that postal votes had been received in this area. As Returning Officer, I therefore took the decision not to hand deliver postal vote packs in this area so as to minimise the risk of people receiving/returning duplicate ballot papers.

Windlestone – Again, the printer had advised that no postal votes had been sent out for this area. Members of the Council’s Customer Services team managed to contact approximately half of the 66 people registered for a postal vote who all advised that they had not yet received their postal vote. To ensure that people registered for a postal vote are able to participate in the election, I decided to cancel the original ballot papers, that had been sent to the printers and issue replacements. The replacements were hand delivered and clearly marked as replacements.

In relation to postal votes that have not been received in other areas of the County, the Customer Services Team have been operating over the weekend to ensure that all requests for replacement ballots are arranged without delay. Replacement ballots are being hand delivered to ensure that people have the opportunity to cast their vote. In accordance with the normal arrangements,  where a replacement ballot is requested, it is clearly marked as such and the original is cancelled. This ensures that if the original is subsequently received through the post, the voter can identify which one should be returned. We also have a process in place to safeguard against anyone seeking to vote more than once which is a fraudulent act.

Ballot Papers for polling stations

There have also been issues with the external printers delivering the ballot papers to be used in polling stations. These should all have been received during the early part of last week but were not received until Saturday. We did not receive any ballot papers for the Town and Parish Council elections for Chilton, Broom ward of Ferryhill Town Council; Nevilles Cross Ward of the City of Durham Parish; Easington Colliery Parish; Waldridge; Great Lumley and Spennymoor Ward of Spennymoor Parish. At the time of writing we do not have a date from our external printers for receipt of these ballot papers. 

In order to ensure that we have ballot papers for these polls, I arranged for ballot papers for these areas to be printed by the Council’s Design and Print Team over the weekend. This has ensured that ballot boxes could be prepared and collected by Presiding Officers in advance of Thursday. The ballot papers for the Parish Council elections are usually printed on yellow paper so that they are easily distinguished from the ballot papers for the County Council elections. The ballot papers that have been printed by Design and Print are white. However, they can be easily distinguished from County Council ballot papers because they have more candidates and are therefore larger.

We have also not received the required number of ballot papers for the PCC election. However, we prudently requested more papers than required across all electoral areas, which has meant we can re-distribute ballot books to ensure all areas have ballot books for the PCC election. As a precaution, I have asked that the Design and Print Team print additional spares.

As I mentioned in my email on Friday, following the election there will be an investigation into the issues that we have encountered with our external printer. We now understand that we are not the only local authority to be affected. However, as Returning Officer, I am confident that with the approach set out above and the combined efforts of teams across the Council, we are taking reasonable steps to ensure that electors are able to cast their vote. Customer Services will continue to process all requests for replacement postal votes without delay. Replacement postal vote packs will continue to be hand delivered to maximise the opportunity for these to be returned in time for close of poll.  I am also liaising with Royal Mail to ensure that postal vote packs that are entering into the mail system close to polling day are delivered in time to be counted.

In the meantime, I would reiterate that electors can post their ballot packs by Wednesday at the latest. Any postal packs posted on Thursday may be picked up by an additional Royal Mail sweep but this cannot be guaranteed. Postal votes can also be handed in to any polling station within the electoral division up until 10pm on polling day. I will update further on this if there is any change following discussions with Royal Mail.

We are also reminding all postal voters that Royal Mail introduced 35,000 Priority Post Boxes nationally. These Priority Post Boxes were introduced to help with the collection and onward delivery of Covid Test Kits, but as Elections are also a priority mailing they can also be used for postal votes. Voters should use this link to identify their nearest Priority Post Boxes if they wish to use this service www.royalmail.com/priority-postboxes.

Anyone who has registered for a postal vote but has not yet received their pack to contact electoral services on 03000 261 212 or email electoralservices@durham.gov.uk

I again would appreciate your support in sharing these messages with candidates and agents as well as residents of County Durham.

Regards

John

John Hewitt 

Chief Executive (Interim)

Durham County Council