Agenda item

The following items of urgent business were discussed:-

2013 Ward Elections

Reference was made to the outcome of the arrangements for the recent Ward elections. Members thanked the electoral staff for all their hard work and for the professional manner in which the arrangements had been undertaken including the speed at which the results had been advertised. The Chairman referred to comments made about the business vote needing to be more representative of the workforce. He reminded the Committee that this was not a legal requirement on businesses and that the City Corporation could only encourage them to ensure that this was taken into account when selecting their voters. The City Corporation therefore needed to consider how businesses could be persuaded to make their voters more representative.

In response to questions the Town Clerk advised that there were 21 contested elections compared to 13 in 2009. 150 candidates stood in total, 10 Members lost their seats and 25 new Members were elected to the Court. For the 2013 elections 25% of votes were cast compared to the local average of 31% and 15% for Police and Crime Commissioners. He acknowledged that there had been an error with instructions given to voters in the Ward of Cripplegate regarding their polling station and advised that the printers had come forward to acknowledge that this was their fault. Nevertheless the elections team made every effort to correct the error made by the printer by hand delivering correction slips in the Ward.

During further discussion it was suggested that officers consider the following to enhance the arrangements for future elections:-

·           whether the venue for wardmotes or polls was appropriate, for example, one venue, St Catherine Creek Church, clashed with a church service;

·           whether more could be done to ensure that postal voters receive the relevant the paperwork;

·           whether more could be done to encourage a higher turnout of voters;

·           whether more could be done to improve attendance at wardmotes e.g. advertising the meetings more widely;

·           whether it was possible to bring the date of the wardmote forward so that it was held prior to the submission of postal votes. A number of postal voters commented that they would have found it helpful to attend the meeting prior to having to cast their vote;

·           how the address of polling stations can be communicated better to reduce the number of voters attending the wrong polling station; and

·           whether it would be better to engage separate counting staff or introduce a central count in order to avoid polling staff being overly tired and increase potential errors.

The Town Clerk supported the suggestion to look more closely at whether venues were fit for purpose in future. He advised that information relating to postal votes was dependent on post offices and on companies passing on the information to electors. He also expressed views for and against having separate counting staff and felt that, on balance, it was better to use the polling staff to undertake the count as present.