Missing ballot papers in last May’s election in Barnsley “significantly damaged trust in the electoral process”

During the council elections on May 5, 2021, BMBC “failed to count a box of postal ballot papers through simple human error”.

The chief executive of Barnsley Council apologised and says there are “lessons to be learned” after the box of postal votes for the Royston ward were not included in the overnight count.

The uncounted votes did not change the outcome of the election for the ward – Labour held the ward with Councillor Dave Webster winning the seat.

As a result of an investigation which “suggested that the count taking place overnight might have contributed to the errors that occurred”, the verifications and counting of votes will now take place on the morning following the election.

A report investigating the missing votes is set o be presented to the council’s audit and governance committee on November 16.

The Association of Electoral Administrators carried out an independentinvestigation into the Royston ward count and a separate review of BMBC’s election count processes

The association also spoke to candidates and agents at the local elections and to polling station staff.

The report states that the The Electoral Commission informed the returning officer that “she did not meet elements of the performance standards for returning officers” but says it is “satisfied that the returning officer has taken steps to make sure that our count processes are designed and managed to secure an accurate result in the future”.

The report provided 14 recommendations to improve the council’s processes and concludes that there was “no evidence of actual or attempted electoral fraud and that the incident was human error”.

“It is clear from both the feedback received from candidates and agents and from the independent report that the time it took to process postal votesreceived at polling stations, a task which took four and a half hours to fully complete, was a contributing factor to the errors that occurred,” added the report.

“Some areas, most notably the counting of votes in one ward, were not delivered to an acceptable standard. We failed to count a box of postal ballot papers through simple human error.

“The postal votes were recounted, and the figures recalculated. While the result for that ward did not change, the process has significantly damaged trust in the electoral process.”

Peter Stanyon, the chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, and the most senior electoral administrator in England, wrote during the investigation: “We are confident from our discussions with the returning officer and her staff that they are committed to delivering safe, secure and professional elections and that appropriate steps will be taken to ensure similar situations do not occur at future elections.”

An improvement plan will review the training of volunteers at polling stations; communications between the returning officer, staff, candidates and agents; postal vote openings at the count; and the layout of the counting room.