Cornish council loses ballots
By politics.co.uk staff
Hundreds of voters have yet to receive their postal ballots in the latest mishap by the new Cornwall council.
At least 300 people have telephoned to complain they haven’t received their ballot papers, despite the fact they were supposed to be mailed on May 22.
It’s the latest chapter in Cornwall’s maligned postal voting system following the revelation last month that several candidates were left off the ballot paper, as reported by politics.co.uk.
The council said they were dealing with the problem but it was the fault of the printing firm, the same excuse used over the missing names.
“We got the paperwork to the printers on time and we are very disappointed and we feel let down,” council chief executive Kevin Lavery told the BBC.
“We have 410,000 voters, 63,000 postal voters and we have a problem with printing of 300 postal ballots.
“We can solve that problem but we take the matter very seriously and we are doing everything we can to fix it.”
Local resident Carolyn Pinney and her husband said they applied for their postal ballots three weeks ago, but have yet to receive them.
“We rang the council last Friday, but got no satisfaction,” she told the BBC.
“I have rung again and would like someone to tell me why I haven’t got my postal vote. If the vote comes down to 10 people, the lost votes could make the difference.”
Those with concerns about their postal ballot in Cornwall can call the council hotline on 0300 1234 200.
