Scottish voters miss out on general election as postal ballots arrive late. Anger as thousands leave for their holidays before forms turn up after ‘delivery difficulties’.

by bottish

10 comments

  1. > About 25 per cent of the Scottish electorate now vote through the post but voters in several areas, including Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Perthshire, Fife and the Western Isles, said they were still without their papers.

    …

    > Blair McDougall, a Labour candidate, said: “In a seat in East Renfrewshire which is highly marginal and projections suggest could be won by a handful of votes, it is deeply frustrating to find yourself talking to people who say they will vote for you but cannot because they haven’t received their postal vote.

    …

    > When the election was announced in May, John Swinney, the first minister, said the decision to hold a general election as Scottish schools begin their summer holidays was the “latest act of disrespect” from the UK government.

    > He said that the impact on Scots “will not have been given a moment’s thought”, Swinney said.

    …

    > Hannah Hellis, from Rutherglen, received her postal vote before flying off for a family holiday but her husband Kristian did not. He told BBC Scotland that he registered to vote about two weeks ago and was told his paperwork would arrive within a week. But as the family flew off to Italy on Thursday, the ballot had still not arrived.

    > “It’s disappointing to be missing out,” he said. “I think announcing the election at the start of the Scottish school holidays disadvantages a lot of people here and it’s a shame because this feels like a big election with everything that’s going on. I’ve got a funny feeling my voting paperwork will arrive today after I’ve left.”

    > Karry Bicket, from Troon, is “disappointed” that she will miss the chance to vote because her pack did not arrive before her holiday. “We’ve received nothing, my husband’s not received his either,” she said.

    > “I did think that was odd given it’s a week today but we’ve not received anything so we can’t vote.”

    > She flew to the Dominican Republic on Thursday and will not return until next Friday.

    > A spokesman for the SNP said: “This is a deeply concerning issue that has the potential to threaten democracy, particularly in Scotland where many voters will be on holiday on polling day.

  4. My mum still hasn’t received my proxy vote card on my behalf despite sending the paperwork 6 months ago. Luckily I’ll be home for this election but it looks like a few councils have dropped the ball.

  5. What a feck up. What is more confusing is just how inconsistent it is. There was a couple heading on holiday yesterday – they both applied for postal votes when the election was called by the Tories; the lassies turned up on time and the guys had not arrived. So half that family got to vote, and they were in Glasgow so not even a remote location.

  6. Not just Scotland, I’m waiting for a postal vote that still hasn’t arrived and I won’t home to vote on the 4th either! There’s a number to call if it hasn’t arrived today.

  7. My vote hasn’t even arrived and I’m off on holiday tomorrow

  8. Has there been any reporting of similar failures in the rest of the UK? Or is there some particular flaw in the way our back end is set up?

  9. Surely, this means that the election will be repeated in the affected constituencies. This essentially amounts to election fraud by the government.

  10. I vote by proxy as I’ve had no end of issues trying to vote by post. There was an issue in 2019 where they hadn’t recorded it properly and thankfully my Mum who was my proxy is well informed and kicked up a fuss at the polling station. Contacted MP/MSP about it and they basically said “yeah there’s issues” and did fuck all about it. Cards have arrived as of yesterday, so as long as there’s no fuck ups at the polling booth it should be OK.

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