Council and democracy
Home > Council and Democracy > Issue
24 Review of Elections 2 May 2019 PDF 405 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Committee received a report from the Chief Executive.
The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:
i.
The Elections Team had to organise 23 May European
election with just 6 weeks’ notice. They had done a good job under the
circumstances. Councillors queried how the situation could be handled in future
if a general election occurred at short notice.
ii.
The Officer’s report suggested some issues were
within the City Council’s control and some were not. For example, the Central
Government website omitted key election information for (non-UK) EU citizens.
iii.
An unreliable postal system led to issues affecting
the return of forms.
iv.
Email
filters may block messages so bulk email was not a reliable method of
communication (instead of hard copies by mail). Given the short timescales
involved, coupled with a need to communicate quickly the decision was taken to
e-mail those electors where an e-mail address was held and to send letters to
the remainder. As referenced in ‘lessons learnt’ there was a need to
check emails had been received.
The Electoral Services Manager said the following in response to Members’ questions:
i.
All forms said a clear/legible scanned image could
be returned by email instead of sending hard copies by post and this would be
highlighted at future polls.
ii.
Some forms were received after the response
deadline although people had paid a premium for next day delivery.
iii.
Council Officers would liaise in future with the Royal
Mail about the issues experienced.
iv.
If people received no response from the City
Council about a submitted application form, it was recommended they follow up
to ensure it had been received. This would be promoted in future.
v.
The City Council had responded to all complaints
from EU nationals who were unable to
vote in the European election.
vi.
Expressed concern that development of European elector application forms (UC1’s)
by IDOX delayed the issue of information to EU citizens.
The Chief
Executive made the following points:
i.
Various
local authorities had been affected by the IDOX development issue when the
company needed to do a system upgrade.
ii.
The
Elections Team had processes to mitigate short notice election issues as much
as possible.
iii.
The
City Council enjoyed good and flexible relationship with polling stations so
buildings could generally be used when needed.
iv.
The
City Council would run elections on existing ward boundaries until they changed in May in 2020.
The Democratic Services Manager said following the review of ward boundaries by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, a review of polling districts would be carried out during summer/autumn 2019. A (delayed) six-week consultation began on 16 July. Details would be updated on the City Council website.
Unanimously resolved:
i.
To note the Officer’s report and provide feedback
to the Returning Officer on issues the Committee would like to be considered in
the management of future polls.
ii.
That the Returning Officer sends this report to the
Cabinet Office and the Electoral Commission highlighting the issues experienced
by EU electors in Cambridge in connection to EU Parliamentary elections on 23
May.