Southend residents sent two sets of postal votes in error

As residents prepare to head to the polls to vote on Thursday, 381 people who have signed up for a postal vote were accidentally sent two voting packs.

As a result of the error by a supplier, Southend Council has written to all 381 residents who received an extra voting pack asking them to only return one voting form.

It is illegal to vote twice in the same election and the council has insisted that any duplicate votes will be rejected from the count.

Colin Ansell, chief executive and returning officer, said: “We are aware of and dealing with an error by one of our suppliers that has led to up to 381 postal voters being sent two voting packs.

“This follows the despatch of 381 postal voting packs from our supplier to electors across the city on Thursday April 25.

“After taking advice from the Electoral Commission, we have issued direct communications to the 381 who could be affected.

“This is advising them to only return one voting pack and inform them that any duplicate packs received will be removed from the process and rejected.

“Although voters affected have been incorrectly issued with two packs, it is an offence to vote twice at the same election.

“We know all those who could be affected by this error as it relates to the specific despatch that took place on 25th April, and we have internal processes and controls regarding postal vote opening and verification to ensure that only one vote is counted for each election being held.

“Please be assured that no-one in Southend-on-Sea will be able to vote twice.

“We apologise for any inconvenience or confusion caused.

“We are speaking further to our external supplier to understand how this happened.”

It is not known at this stage how many people have actually received two voting packs, but it could be up to 381 people.

Southend Council add that their external supplier issues approximately 21,000 postal votes on its behalf so the error represents less than two per cent of postal voters.