From P Freeman, comment on earlier post:
I learned today from a FoI to the Electoral Commission that our ERO / RO has not fulfilled his responsibilities in another area, specifically ‘How many people tried to vote on polling day and were found not to be registered?’.
Most other ERO/RO have provided this information, but a few including East Devon’s RO/ERO have not.
It would seem so.
East Devon Election and Returning Officer Mark Williams (also CEO of East Devon District Council) rather grudgingly admitted that “things had gone wrong” at the last election but said it would not happen again in this newspaper article published today:
No mention of the fact that he was hauled in to a Parliamentary Committee to explain why he “lost” 6,000 voters (answer: because he thought his idea of telephoning missing voters was better than the government’s guidance of visiting them), was particularly noted by the Electoral Commission for not following those guidelines, or why East Devon was one of only SEVEN councils out of more than 400 to have made MULTIPLE mistakes. OR that he has been doing the job for years but still doesn’t seem to have got it quite right.
If it were a junior officer or councillor who had not been considered up-to-scratch (particularly an Independent Councillor) would he or she had got off so lightly?
Teflon-coated?
“East Devon residents are asked for their views and suggestions on polling stations ready for council to consider in December
East Devon District Council is due to launch a review into the district’s polling districts and polling places and is seeking feedback from the public.
The council will be pleased to receive views from anyone, but particularly stakeholders, such as electors, parishes, political parties and councillors. It will also be grateful for comments from people and organisations with expertise in access for people with disabilities.
Anyone who would like information about a particular parish or part of the district should contact us either by e-mail (elections@eastdevon.gov.uk) or telephone (01395 517550).
East Devon District Council’s Chief Executive, Mark Williams, said:
“Over the years, the locations where voting takes place in East Devon have remained the same, except for occasions where a building is no longer available. Following the recent election we now need to review the existing situation.
“If anyone thinks we should be looking at alternative locations to the polling stations that were used in May this year or have comments on the stations that were used, please could they let us have their views as soon as possible.”
Views and comments should be made in writing, setting out any alternative suggestions, by no later than Friday, 25 September 2015 to the Electoral Services Manager, East Devon District Council, Council Offices, Knowle, Sidmouth EX10 8HL
The Chief Executive will make proposals to the council, taking account of all the views and comments that are received. The council meeting where the recommendations will be considered will be held on Wednesday 16 December 2015 and will be open to the public.”
If you have any reservations about locations or access to polling stations do let Mr Williams know. It is a very long time since these locations were first chosen and some of them may now be inappropriate.
One assumes that locations in the ownership of or linked closely to serving councillors will not be considered appropriate.
Click to access 300715-scrutiny-agenda-combined.pdf
Voter registration leaflets are dropping through our doors. It is SO tempting not to return them to see if we get a visit from a nice lady or gentleman who will ensure that we do!
Mark Williams is not a great believer in those visits, not having not arranged any for several years – a fact that Members of Parliament heavily criticised when he was hauled before them last December to explain an alarming drop in voters – from around 102,000 to 96,000.
Now intriguingly we learn from this week’s Sidmouth Herald that he is talking of a current 110,000 voters who are registered – which would mean a whopping 14,000 people have only recently been registered.
Typo surely? Fortunately, he is appearing before a committee in September to explain why so many things have gone wrong with voter registration in the past few years, so we can all know what is really the correct number.
Labour accuses David Cameron of manipulating electoral system:
http://gu.com/p/4am25?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Well, that will please Mark Williams – the Electoral Registration Officer who “lost” 6000 voters in East Devon, was heavily criticised for it in Parliament and refuses to apologise for his mistakes:
Anyone else think this press release is another whitewash, hogwash, brainwash spin cycle.
Elections watchdog report confirms that complexity of polls contributed to errors
East Devon Returning Officer welcomes Electoral Commission comments and confirms improvements to service
The Electoral Commission has today (15 July) published its review of the multiple elections that took place on 7 May 2015 – an unusual occurrence, where for the first time since 1979 the General Election, District, Town and Parish Council elections all took place on the same day. To put this into context, in East Devon, election notices were published for a total of 119 elections covering four local authority boundaries (East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon and West Devon).
The report – which includes the elections watchdog’s assessment of the performance of Returning Officers – highlights the many administrative issues that arose across the country, ranging from ballot papers issued in error to printing mistakes. But it also confirms that: ‘…the complexity of the polls was a contributing factor: errors were predominantly made in areas where more than one election was taking place…such complexity must be considered as an increased risk factor in the planning and delivery of the election(s).’
A lack of experienced staff was another problem that affected administration efficiency: ‘As most ROs rely on a small dedicated team of staff to organise elections, they rarely have additional experienced staff available to augment the core team to support the management of combined polls or where there are complex cross-boundary issues to resolve.’
However, overall satisfaction was good, as the Electoral Commission’s report found that:
• ‘Nine in ten people surveyed (91%) said the elections in May were well-run.’
• ‘Nearly all (94%) of those who voted in person at a polling station were satisfied with the process.’
• ‘Nearly all (97%) of those who voted by post were satisfied with voting this way. Just over 16% of electors chose to vote by post at the General Election, at the 2010 General Election, the figure was 15%.’
East Devon’s Returning Officer (RO), Mark Williams, is referenced in the report due to his failure to meet two of the Electoral Commission performance standards, as a result of two administrative errors, which may have had a detrimental impact on voters and those standing for election. These were:
1. Incorrect guidance on the back of the postal voting statement that potentially affected a number of postal voters in the district elections.
In response to this comment, Mark Williams said: “Fortunately this matter was identified very speedily and prompt corrective action was taken. I fully accept that the error shouldn’t have happened and I apologised at the time. Even though we issued in excess of 11,000 postal votes, only 14 postal votes needed to be re-issued as a result of the error. It was clear that postal voters used their common sense and followed the instructions on the ballot paper rather than the general guidance on the back of the postal voting statement.
“I know that comment has been made about the cost of the mail-out to those potentially affected by the mistake, but I can assure Council Tax payers that they have not been affected by this, as the cost was covered by ring fenced grants, which we received from HM Government.”
2. The second issue related to a temporary 24-hour arrangement that applied to district council postal votes as a result of concerns raised by a registered political party.
Commenting on this issue, Mark Williams said: “All ROs come under intense pressure during an election period and the Electoral Commission’s report is a timely reminder that we must comply with guidance and legislation despite the pressure of an election. In the case of this matter, it affected 12 postal votes for the district council, all of which were actually included in the count.”
Conclusion
Overall, Mark Williams feels that the 2015 elections were an intense, but successful experience, although he is at pains to point out that he and his team will be redoubling their efforts to ensure that the lessons learnt from these multiple elections are not repeated in the future. “I have a young team who did their very best to provide an excellent service to electors. I acknowledge that we fell short – as highlighted by the Electoral Commission – but when put in context, all 110,000 electors had the opportunity to cast their vote and the election results were robust and not challenged.
“We will be working with the Electoral Commission to identify and implement practical measures that will improve the voting process. Developing the resources of the elections and electoral registration teams is a key immediate priority and we are looking to recruit an additional officer for these services, who will be fully trained in the use of the specialist software that is used for electoral registration and elections. It is important that the high levels of trust that voters place in us are sustained.”
Scrutiny
A report on the issues that arose from the combined Parliamentary, District and Town & Parish Council elections will be presented to the Scrutiny Committee by the Returning Officer Mark Williams on 30 July 2015.
Electoral Commission targets for voter registration – Mr Williams is no doubt working on these targets as we write! Hmmm.
On-going work to get people registered to vote
The Electoral Commission will run campaigns ahead of the elections in May 2016 to encourage people to register and to make the registers more accurate and complete. In Scotland, a specific campaign to encourage 15 – 17 year olds to register to vote will coincide with the canvass.
Attainers (16 and 17 year olds)
Polling Stations
We hear from a correspondent that EDDC did not make a review of polling stations before the last election – this was a mandatory task which should have been completed, put out for public consultation and agreed formally at Council well before the election. Here is how Dorset explained it:, which applies to all councils:
It seems the Electoral Commission has informed EDDC that it must not wait any longer to conduct such a review and it MUST be started in July 2015. A number of polling stations are no longer fit-for-purpose as regards facilities for disabled people and consideration will need to be given to polling stations that may give rise to perceived conflict with councillor interests. Watch this space.
The requirements:
http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/polling-place-reviews?
Here is how you appeal if you think a particular polling station does not meet requirements:
Fees can be witheld or reduced:
Click to access Guidance-on-process-for-witholding-or-reducing-RO-fees.pdf
Confused about who to vote for, how many votes you have, or why all the talk about neighbourhood plans? This blog has brief, clear summaries: http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/candidates/sidmouth/cathy-gardner/
EDW also recommends Cathy’s video intro; and the one by the iEDA candidate standing against Paul Diviani (in Yarty), Steve Horner.
Many of you will already have watched this straight-talking one, which we highlighted yesterday : http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/candidates/coly-valley/paul-arnott/
Then there’s one by Megan Armstrong (Exmouth); and by Martin Shaw (Seaton)…… the list goes on, and is steadily increasing.
Election only one week away!
Though, presumably, he has already committed this to memory:
“Planning and organisation: Local government elections in England and Wales: Guidance for Returning Officers”
Postal vote issue and opening staff
2.34 You should identify staffing requirements for your postal vote issuing and opening sessions. The following staff may be required:
specially trained supervisory staff
clerical staff
IT staff
2.35 Your decision on whether to do a combined or separate issue of postal votes may have an impact on the number of staff required for the issuing (if this is to be done in-house) and opening of postal votes, and you will need to plan for this accordingly.
2.38 Even if you decide to outsource all or part of the postal vote issuing process you should designate a member of the project team to monitor outsourced work and the work of the contractor, and specifically to attend those parts of the issuing process that have been contracted out. This person should monitor the work of the contractor, which should include carrying out tasks such as spot checks to ensure that the postal ballot packs are being correctly collated and that those postal votes that need to go overseas are being prioritised. Further guidance on managing contractors and suppliers can be found in Section 4, below.
Postal vote issue and opening staff
3.14 You should make arrangements for the briefing of all postal vote issue and opening staff. Briefings on the particular procedures to be followed may be provided to postal vote issue and opening staff immediately prior to commencement of the issuing or opening processes. All staff should, however, be provided with guidance notes in advance.
3.15 Also, you should consider training supervisory staff a day or two in advance of the issuing or opening session so that they are fully aware of their duties and what will be expected of them.
3.16 Whether you are issuing in-house or have contracted out the issuing of postal votes, you should ensure that supervisory staff are appropriately trained to carry out the required quality assurance checks.
3.17 Supervisory staff at postal vote openings should be trained to ensure that the opening procedures and the verification process are correctly followed and an audit trail is maintained.
Click to access LGEW-MAY-RO-Part-B-Planning-and-Organisation.pdf
This story was broken by East Devon Watch.
The job is SEPARATE to any other post and each Returning Officer receives a fee for doing the job (often in excess of £20,000 per election) and a budget. It seems Mr Williams had a budget of more than £121,000 in 2010 to run this procedure:
“The specified services are—
(a)conducting the election;
(b)discharging the returning officer’s duties at the election; and
(c)making arrangements for the election.”
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/830/made
He got it wrong in 2011 too:
Here are the Performance Standards for Returning Officers – standard 1 on page 12 appears to have been breached:
Click to access Part-A-Returning-Officer-role-and-responsibilities.pdf
The explanation:
“All the District Elections and Town/Parish Council elections are administered by the Returning Officer for the relevant Constituency up until after the Constituency votes have been separated from the District and Town/Parish votes and the number of votes cast and spoilt papers, etc. has been reconciled with the Polling Station or postal voting accounts. At that point, the District and Town/Council votes are re-sealed into ballot boxes and transported to the relevant District Council on Friday 8th May for counting by the Returning Officer (Mark Williams) for the East Devon District Council.
So the postal voting instructions for East Devon Constituency were prepared by Mark Williams. The postal voting instructions for Tiverton and Honiton were prepared by Mid Devon Returning Officer and the postal voting instructions for Central Devon Constituency were prepared by West Devon Returning Officer.
So, it seems only Mark Williams (who has been the Returning Officer for East Devon for at least 9 years and maybe longer) made mistakes in the postal voting instructions. Therefore, the correction letter is only going to the multi-seat wards within the East Devon Constituency.
Mr Williams has presumably been the Returning Officer since he started at East Devon District Council – we are not sure how long he has been CEO and Returning Officer but we have traced it back to at least 2006!
Good to see a member of the judiciary recognises this problem, even if political parties and the police don’t:
“Last year Mawrey repeated his warning that postal voting enabled electoral cheating on an “industrial scale”. …
…”Challenges should be governed by simpler, modern and less formal rules of procedure allowing judges to achieve justice in the case while having regard to the balance between access and certainty,” it proposes. …
” … In his 200-page judgment on Rahman, Mawrey pointed out that although the election court is a civil hearing, “the criminal standard of proof, namely proof beyond reasonable doubt” is applied. Candidates, unless “a mitigating factor is established”, are deemed responsible for the acts and omissions of their agents. …
“Dr Toby James, senior lecturer in politics at the University of East Anglia and author of Elite Statecraft and Election Administration, said the long delay between last May’s mayoral vote in the east London borough and the election court’s ruling this week highlighted the need for a more speedy resolution process in electoral disputes.
“Imagine what would happen after the general election in two weeks’ time when you have disputes arising from a couple of constituencies and very close party results,” he told the Guardian. “It’s a Victorian procedure. Election justice should be quicker and then we would see if there’s more signs of fraud.”
Are they worried that the missing voters would vote them out?
Seems Mr Williams has taken none of the criticism he received from his enforced appearance at the Parliamentary Commission on Voter Engagement when he was rapped over the knuckles for doing nothing for years.
Our long- running campaign (Sidmouth Independent News, EDA former blog, then this blog) has – with little thanks to EDDC – ensured that our district has at last caught up with most of the 6,000 voters missing from the electoral register in 2014 – a misfortune that got our CEO and Electoral Returning Officer, Mark Williams, hauled before the Parliamentary Commission on Voter Engagement to explain. Rather unsatisfactorily.
In its most recent report: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/182375/Analysis-of-the-December-2014-electoral-registers-in-England-and-Wales.pdf
the Electoral Commission has this to say about East Devon, key paragraph:
“In contrast, in East Devon, where the challenges are different, there hjas been an increase in the number of entries on the register. The ERO has attributed this to the success of making visits to non-responding properties and individuals, which were carried out across the area in 2014 for the first time since 2010.”
In other words, Mark Williams has effectively admitted that, had he carried our doorstep canvassing as he was required to do between 2010 and 2014, rather than trying to cut corners (for whatever reason) then most of the missing voters would have almost certainly been registered in that period.
This could well have affected the outcome of European elections in East Devon and, had these voters not made it on to the register, the outcome of district and Parliamentary Elections in May 2015. An election where results may hinge on only scores or hundreds of votes.
Next on the agenda to fix – Households of Multiple Occupation.
Honestly, to read the EDDC webpage you wouldn’t think that our Chief Executive and Electoral Returning Officer had recently been brought before a Parliamentary Committee and hauled over the coals for doing little or nothing to register votes over the last few years! What’s that noise? Spinning, spinning!
“National Voter Registration Day is about spreading the word and encouraging people to take action by registering. However, it’s not only young people that we’re keen to register, we want all our residents that are eligible to vote to register, and we hope this day will focus attention on this aim.
Registering to vote is easy, just visit gov.uk/register-to-vote.”
It would appear that, far from carrying out telephone enquiries in preference to door-to-door canvassing, the East Devon Electoral Returning Officer (Mark Williams, also CEO of East Devon District Council) did no canvassing at all for several years. Also that the Electoral Commission was aware if this. Indeed, we have no idea what canvassing was done before 2011 because EROs reported on their own performance with no checks or balances at all until then!
What on earth is going on? Will we ever know – as the ERO himself is exempt from answering Freedom of Information requests and, when asked by the Parliamentary Committee who his boss was he said “No-one”. Only the fact that the Electoral Commission IS expected to comply with the Freedom of Information Act revealed the true situation.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/electoral_registration_is_teleph
It would also seem clear that laws may have been broken but, if that is the case, that there will be no sanction as (thanks to EDA and Mr Freeman) at least 28 people are now out in the community correcting a situation that could have affected the outcome of recent European elections when the missing voters might have changed the result.
It should be noted that Mr Williams has refused to answer questions put to him by local residents on this matter because he says he is “too busy” dealing with the current situation.
It seems that, as canvassing is now being done , the Electoral Commission is happy to sweep the past under an already very dusty carpet.
East Devon Watch 