Independent investigation set up over election and postal vote

Plymouth City Council has set up an independent inquiry over administrative problems in the lead-up to the general election in early June.

The investigation was launched after issues emerged with the sending out of postal vote packs to people who had applied for them.

According to the Guardian, a loss of 1,500 postal voting packs was due to a computer problem.

The council had already experienced issues regarding votes as the final number of votes declared for the Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency was incorrect, leaving 6,587 votes for Efford and Lipson out.

Dr Dave Smith, former chief executive of Sunderland City Council, will be leading the investigation. He will present the findings and recommendations from his investigation to the full council ‘within the next few months’, Plymouth Council said.

Ian Bowyer, the council leader, said: “I am deeply concerned by the problems that have occurred with the administration of the General Election and want to be assured that we urgently get to the bottom of what happened and why. The Chief Executive and Acting Returning Officer announced at an early stage that a full and independent external investigation will be held, which is essential as we must ensure that these problems can never recur. I have asked that the investigation makes every effort to hear evidence from as many people in Plymouth as possible who have been affected by the problems. This way the investigators will be able to better understand the problems, how and why they happened and how many people were affected.”