Agenda item

A report of the Executive Director of Core Services was submitted to update the Committee on the review and learning from the Local Elections held on 5 May 2022.

Sarah Norman, Returning Officer and Peter Clark, Elections Manager were in attendance to answer any specific questions. 

The Committee were remined that, in the May 2022 Local Elections a serious breach was found in respect of the Royston count.  The Association of Electoral Administrators was commissioned by the Returning Officer to complete an independent investigation into the Royston ward count and a separate end-to-end review of the election count processes, together with an engagement exercise with candidates and agents at the local elections and people who worked at polling stations.

The Committee noted that the investigation was now complete and an independent report into the Royston ward count had been received from the Chief Executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators and the most Senior Electoral Administrator in England.

The report provided 14 recommendations to improve the Council’s processes and concluded that there was no evidence of actual or attempted electoral fraud and that the incident was human error.  In addition, the report stated that there was no single point of failure, but several issues, which had independently and collectively contributed.

The Returning Officer informed the Committee that a task and finish group chaired by the Executive Director of Core Services was leading on an Improvement Plan.  This Plan would be fully implemented by the end of 2022 so that all changes would be in place for the next scheduled local elections on 4 May 2023.

In the ensuing discussion, particular reference was made to the following points:

·            The timing of when the verification and counting of the votes take place had also been reviewed.  The Association of Electoral Administrators’ review of the Royston ward count suggested that the count taking place overnight might have contributed to the errors that occurred.  In response to this, and where circumstances allow, the verification and counting of the votes will now take place on the morning following the election.

·            Confirmation was received that extra checks would be made at future counts.  This would include secondary checks to allow Election Agents to also check figures. 

·            Confirmation was received that a briefing would be arranged for January / February 2023 to set out all the lessons learnt.  In addition, normal meetings for candidates and agents would be held during March and April 2023 to communicate the changes made in the process. 

RESOLVED:

i)           That the Committee considered the assurances provided in the report to ensure the standards of delivery at future elections; and

ii)          Recognises the reviews that have taken place and the implementation and delivery of the improvement plan.