registered There were delays in printing and delivering postal ballots in at least 120 precincts, and thousands of voters may not have received them in time to cast their ballots.
The problems have mainly occurred in London, Scotland, Essex and Lancashire. Royal Mail and the Electoral Commission have denied that the problem is widespread or systematic.Several analyses suggest that a quarter of marginal constituencies may have been affected by the problem, meaning the second-largest vote-getter could challenge the results in court, a move that opens up the possibility of several necessary by-elections.
British Post Office officials, local authorities and his supporters traded accusations, trying to shift responsibility for the chaos.
And 48 hours ago the British Electoral Commission admitted that these issues would be investigated.
Some voters have said delays in ballot delivery are due to staff being instructed to prioritise parcels and packages, which could result in fines if they are not delivered on time. Royal Mail has denied the claim.
Many Britons asked to vote by post so they could go on a planned holiday, but had not received their ballots by the time they left.
That was the case for Sandra Gavins, 75, and her husband. “I feel like they didn’t give me a chance,” she complained to the newspaper. Telegraph.
In 2019, 21% of voters voted by mail, but this year the number has increased specifically because of the holiday period.
but Others were unable to exercise their right due to work commitments. Dan Conway, from Blackburn, Lacanshire, said he was unable to vote because he did not receive his postal ballot in time.
The city advised him to go to the polling station on Thursday, but Conway, the social worker, told the newspaper: Mirror “This is not an option,” he said. “I work 12-hour shifts and I can’t leave work to go vote,” he said, pointing to “ineffective planning” by the local authority to lose the vote.
North West Essex State
British postal voting officials have admitted there are significant difficulties in responding to an election scheduled for such a short period of time. The massive increase in orders in just 15 years, from 1.7 million in 2010 to eight million in 2019 and 10 million this year..
Laura Locke, executive vice president of the Association of Election Directors, called for reform of the system, including setting a maximum ballot request deadline of 16 days before the election, instead of the current 11 days.
He also appealed Issuing emergency ballots on Election Day to voters who did not receive their ballots in time by mail.
“Poll teams are doing their best to manage this early election, but with a short election period and holiday, and with printing and distribution providers running at full capacity, demand is a real test of the system,” Laura Locke explained.
As an example of the difficulties, Conservative Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch, who is seeking re-election, He accused his local authority, in north-west Essex, of “potentially defrauding up to 2,600 voters of their rights”.This is due to a shortage of postal ballots, following a delay in their printing and delivery.
The municipality, which is mainly made up of workers and independent residents and was elected five years ago, attributed the failure to “human error” and announced that municipal employees had distributed ballots in person, to ensure timely voting.
Badenoch called on the Conservatives to return to local power, rather than vote for “incompetents”.
Although the Conservatives claimed that voter turnout throughout the day was higher than in 2019, the Association of Electoral Directors reported that by the end of the afternoon, turnout was similar to five years ago.
Desperate appeal from conservatives
These elections reflect the British people’s fatigue with a party that has managed their fate for 14 years, during which they have lived through the Covid-19 pandemic, Britain’s exit from the European Union, economic and social crises, and the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in addition to enduring many scandals and political instability.
Voters’ main concerns center on the massive loss of purchasing power, the deterioration of public health services, and immigration control.
“It is time for the UK to choose its future, to decide whether it wants to build on the progress made or risk going back to square one, with no plan and no certainty,” said Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on 22 May.
It was a surprise announcement that was greeted with jubilation by the opposition, from Keir Starmer’s Labour to Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats and Nigel Farage’s far-right. Polls during the election campaign suggested that all would increase their parliamentary representation at the cost of a sharp fall for the Conservatives.
During the last six weeks of the election campaign, all political parties tried to convince voters of their proposals, while the party currently in power tried to lose by the smallest possible margin.
This Thursday, Several Conservative leaders urged voters not to give Labour “unchallenged power”.As described by Steve Baker, Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Government.
Rishi Sunak, after voting for Holborn alongside his wife Akshata Murthy at 10am, posted a picture of them on social media, urging his supporters to vote to avoid a resounding Labour majority.
“Councils are open. Vote Conservative to stop Labour’s supermajority, which means tax rises for a generation.” he wrote.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson posted a video To demand a vote against the “nightmare” Tax hikes ‘wake up’ future Labour government.
Liberal and left-wing voters have launched a campaign on the X network calling for “tactical voting” using the hashtag #votetactically, to take on the Conservative Party, as the Conservatives are known.
The aim was to get people to vote for the best candidate to remove the Conservative candidate from every constituency, regardless of each voter’s political preferences. Conservative officials denounced the existence of this “secret agreement” between the Liberals and Labor.
