Council will 'learn lessons' from Polling Day chaos

Following a review of polling arrangements at the recent North Ayrshire Council Election, Returning Officer Elma Murray has vowed that “Lessons learned will be taken forward to future electoral events.”

Ms Murray, also North Ayrshire Council’s Chief Executive, was tasked with carrying out an investigation after councillors and members of the public complained regarding changes to Polling Places. 

As previously reported by the3towns, some Ardrossan residents found themselves being told to vote at a new Polling Place - St Peter’s Primary School in South Isle Road - despite their homes being closer to the existing Polling Place at the Whitlees Community Centre.  Others who had voted at the Whitlees for many years were re-allocated to the Civic Centre in Glasgow Street.  Meanwhile, residents of Greenacres and the Knockrivoch estate had to cross into Saltcoats to vote at St Anthony’s Primary School.

In a report for this week’s meeting of North Ayrshire Council, Ms Murray will tell councillors, “It is the statutory duty of the Returning Officer to allot electors to polling stations. New electoral registers based on the revised polling districts considered by the Council in September 2011 were published on 1 December 2011. Thereafter a polling scheme for the election was drawn up. The aim of the polling scheme is to put in place adequate arrangements for polling - 51 Polling Places and 109 Polling Stations were in use.”

The Returning Officer goes on to explain, “Whilst the vast majority of voters in North Ayrshire were allocated to what they might consider their 'usual' polling place, some voters were redirected to vote at different polling places.”
The report then details actions taken by the Council to highlight changes in the run up to the poll, including articles in the local press and on the Council's website urging voters to check their polling cards to establish where they should be voting at the election.  Ms Murray adds, “Polling cards themselves carried a notice that polling places may have changed.  An online search facility was also provided allowing voters to enter their Post Code to be directed to the correct Polling Place.”  But the Chief Executive concluded, “Despite these efforts, it is clear that some voters did not realise that their polling places had changed.”

With regard to problems in the Saltcoats & Stevenston Ward, Elma Murray’s report says, “The main issue arising...was that 472 voters in the newly created polling district N409, who would previously have voted at Hayocks Hall in Stevenston, were directed to vote instead at the Focus Centre, Saltcoats.  Whilst the Focus Centre was closer to the majority of voters in the polling district, feedback was received from a few candidates that some Stevenston voters objected to being directed to Saltcoats to vote, and others were not aware of the change.  As a result of this feedback, all 472 voters in the polling district received a letter in the run up to polling day highlighting where they would be voting for the election.”

Figures for Saltcoats & Stevenston revealed that, of the 13,354 people entitled to vote in person, 3,861 (28.9%) did so.  There were also 2,316 postal ballot papers issued, of which 1,653 (71.37%) were returned.

In the Ardrossan & Arran Ward, Ms Murray’s investigation found, “The changes within mainland Ardrossan and Arran were in the main to accommodate the request that another Polling Place be provided in the Ward.  St Peter's Primary School was included and voters who would otherwise have been directed to Whitlees Community Centre were redirected to St Peter's Primary School – 2,842 voters were allotted to St Peter's.  The Election Office was made aware of some confusion among voters during Polling Day and mitigating steps were taken to provide maps to Presiding Officers to re-direct voters to their designated polling place.”

The Returning Officer also noted, “There is some anecdotal evidence that voters within Ardrossan were not happy about being directed to St Anthony's Primary School in Saltcoats.  The location of St Anthony's right on the border of wards 4 and 5 [Saltcoats & Stevenston and Ardrossan & Arran] also led to a few calls from voters in ward 4 who did not understand why they could not vote at the school for the local election.”

In Ardrossan & Arran, of the 11,897 voters entitled to vote in person, 4,294 (36%) did so.  There were 2,306 postal ballot papers issued, of which 1,421 (69.97%) were returned.

Ms Murray’s report for councillors concludes, “It is clear that some voters were not aware that their designated polling places had changed despite efforts by the Returning Officer to alert voters to the changes.  It is therefore proposed that all voters affected by changes to their Polling Place will receive a letter in the future.”