Delays in sending out postal vote and ballot papers and voter ID rules left some in York unable to vote in the general election, councillors have said.
The delays and registration errors led to many having to go to City of York Council’s West Offices headquarters to resolve issues days before the general election, councillors heard.
Labour’s Cllr Anna Baxter said some postal votes arrived after the deadline to return them or even after the election itself.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Andrew Hollyer said voter ID rules had hit the homeless, young people, the disabled and those from ethnic minority and LGBT backgrounds hardest.
It comes as council leader Cllr Claire Douglas said problems with postal votes had emerged from the system itself which required national efforts to ensure it functions properly.
Councillors heard people coming in person to West Offices led to particularly long waits on the Friday prior to the general election the following Thursday, 4 July.
Cllr Douglas told the full council meeting staff had dealt with the administrative burden of postal vote registrations and the resulting distress remarkably well, with delays eventually easing.
The motion passed at the meeting calls for the rules on postal and emergency proxy voters to be reviewed to avoid a repeat of issues seen during the election.
It also calls for the timetable for postal votes to be reviewed, along with the scrapping of voter ID rules.
Turnout fell
The motion, tabled by Cllr Baxter at the full council meeting last Wednesday (17 July), called for reforms to account for the growth in the postal voters.
It stated rules including the recommendation for people to take postal vote ballots to polling stations if they arrive late were ineffective.
The motion passed by councillors also stated that voter turnout fell from 67.3 per cent in 2019 to 59.8 per cent this year nationally.
It fell by an average of 10.35 per cent across York’s two parliamentary constituencies.
Cllr Baxter said estimates put the amount of people disenfranchished by the current system at as many as eight million nationally.
She added the system was neither efficient or effective.
The Hull Road ward councillor said: “Turnout in the general election was the lowest in hundred years since men and women were given equal voting rights.
“Many of those who signed up for postal votes did so due to the lack of voter ID or being away on polling day.
“It was heart-breaking to see people in my ward get turned away at polling stations because of voter ID rules.”
Cllr Hollyer said all the evidence from the general election and last year’s local elections showed that voter ID had disenfranchised people.
The Haxby and Wigginton ward councillor said: “We’ve all heard from residents who were denied their right to vote.
“We should send a very clear message to the new Labour government that York is opposed to the voter ID law.
“These repeated issues with postal votes risk residents giving up and losing out entirely.”
Nationally Labour has said it will look at potential inconsistencies in the types of ID voters are allowed to use in elections.
ID requirements were introduced by the previous Conservative government which claimed it was needed to tackle electoral fraud but critics had questioned whether the move was necessary.