Postal voters' concern (From Stroud News and Journal)

Postal voters' concern

POSTAL voters have expressed doubts about the results of tomorrow's election after claiming their voting slips could easily come apart in the mail.

Several worried residents were told to tape up the ends of the voting envelopes by Stroud District Council as the adhesive kept coming unstuck.

Many say that with almost 11,000 postal voters and a Labour majority of only 5,039, the election result could hinge on the safety of the envelope glue.

Stroud resident Barbara Pegna had to stick down her envelope when her voting slip fell out before she had even posted it.

"It is an awful design," she said. "All these votes could be floating about in the bottom of some postman's bag.

"It is a fairly tight majority and I do not like to think my vote is being wasted."

One Cainscross resident added: "The whole election could be decided on an insecure postal system."

Political parties admitted their reservations. Green candidate Martin Whiteside said: "Postal voting is not safe."

Conservative spokesman Paul McLain said his party wanted to tighten up the security but said voters had to trust the Returning Officer.

"This has got to be something the Returning Officer in each area is mindful of," he said.

Labour spokesman Luke Holland said: "The Labour Party in Stroud has spoken to the electoral services department and received absolute assurances that the postal vote system for the election is operating properly.

"The few incidents of technical problems with the ballot papers have been remedied and guidance issued by the council.

"The Labour Party has been able to witness and verify every part of this process."

A spokesman for returning officer David Hagg admitted the design of the slips was a problem but reassured voters the election would be safe.

"We do accept that it is a problem," he said.

"There is quite a narrow glue band round the side and it seems to be that some of these are just too narrow.

"That is clearly an issue we will be raising with the printers after the election but we have absolutely no reason to think that any of them are going to come apart in the post.

"Most people are sensible enough to check they are sealed properly before sending them."

He said the election office had only received seven complaints so far and the count of the postal ballots was progressing smoothly.