Croydon Council has confirmed that there has been no error in the printing of the postal vote envelopes for the London elections next month.
As postal ballot papers began to arrive at voters’ homes in Croydon this week, some questioned why, in the section requiring them to provide their date of birth, the first two boxes of the year were already printed with the figures “1” and “9”, which appears to assume that all recipients were born in the 20th Century.
On May 2, residents as young as 18 years old – born in 2006 – should be allowed to vote for the Mayor of London, an Assembly Member for Croydon and Sutton, and their choice of party or candidate in a London-wide Assembly vote. In Park Hill and Whitgift ward and Woodside, where council by-elections are taking place, they will have a fourth ballot paper to return.
Indeed, voters aged up to 24 might expect to have a year of birth that does not begin with “19”, as has been printed on many of the postal ballot envelopes.
London Elects, the agency which is overseeing the conduct of the capital’s elections, confirmed to Inside Croydon that they are responsible for the printing of the ballot papers, while, “Local authorities…,” meaning local councils, such as Croydon, “… are responsible the production of the postal vote packs.”
Old voter: postal ballot forms have the year of birth partly filled in, apparently to avoid electors invalidating their vote
In Croydon, the Returning Officer, the person responsible for the organisation of the democratic process is Katherine Kerswell, the council’s chief executive.
In 2022, Kerswell attracted national ridicule for the seemingly never-ending count of votes in the borough’s local elections. After polling stations closed at 10pm on a Thursday, and while most London boroughs declared their results the following day, Kerswell’s count was not completed until the afternoon of the following Sunday – three days later.
The review panel said that criticism of Kerswell’s management of the 2022 vote count was justified.
Next month’s London elections are the first significant, borough-wide vote to be held in Croydon since Kerswell’s clusterfuck in 2022.
And Croydon Council says there has been no mistake with the postal ballot forms, and that any voters born this century and using a postal ballot will get a form which has “20” printed in the first two boxes of their year of birth part of the form.
“We can confirm that this is not an error,” a spokesperson for Croydon Council told Inside Croydon.
“This section of the postal voting statement has been pre-populated using the year of birth the resident provided as part of their application to vote by post.
“If a resident was born in the last century, it has been pre-populated with a ’19’. If the resident was born in this century, it has been pre-populated with a ’20’.
“This is to help avoid people mistakenly writing the date they complete the postal vote, rather than their date of birth, which would cause the postal vote to be rejected.
“This has been standard practice in Croydon and other authorities for many years.” Well, probably since 2018. But in Croydon, that does seem to be a long, long time ago.
Read more: Criticism of Kerswell’s election count ‘justified’ says report
Read more: Calls for Electoral Commission to intervene on Croydon votes
Read more: From bankrupt to laughing stock as council count continues
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Can someone explain why, after repeated election mismanagement in Croydon, Katherine Kerswell is still our Returning Officer? This is ridiculous – she should be removed from the post.
She does not have to be Returning Officer. The role can be given to any ‘competent’ person in the Council.
She is grasping hold of the position because it pays £40,000 on top of her salary.
I think she struggles enough doing her day-job without spending time trying not to screw up the elections.
Why doesn’t our Mayor step in and sort this fucking situation out?
PLEASE NOTE: If you forget to post a completed postal vote in time and take it along to hand in at a polling station (or the town hall) on May 2nd, please ensure you fill in, sign and date a “POSTAL VOTE RETURN FORM” available at the polling station/town hall. This is a new procedure. Without an accompanying completed form, the postal vote will be rejected, i.e., excluded from the count.