| Topic: | Why can’t Wandsworth Council count? | |
| Posted by: | Nick Austin | |
| Date/Time: | 19/07/24 17:37:00 |
| You may have seen news reports in the last few days about the General election result here in Putney. I thought I understood the result quite clearly. As a newly elected local Councillor I was at the count and saw the election result read out from the main stage in the early hours of Friday 5 th July. Only that isn’t what happened at all. On Wednesday (17 th July) the council added an extra 6558 votes to what it announced as the result. It doesn’t change the outcome. Fleur Anderson clearly won, and I hope she does a great job – regardless of who you vote for that’s in our collective interest. What has now emerged has left me shocked. For context the number of ‘extra votes’ that have been added this week are more than the combined winning margin in 2019 and 2017! Turnout has leapt up from 42,737 (59%) to a far more respectable 49,513 (68%). The number of votes each candidate received has now also changed even if the respective places of the parties has not. For almost 2 weeks 1 in 6 votes in Putney effectively didn’t count. They weren’t physically lost. There was no hidden box or sack of voting slips. But Wandsworth Council have demonstrated they simply cannot count. The council’s highly paid Chief Executive Mike Jackson was the man in charge of the elections and within 24 hours has announced he’s going for what we are told are totally unrelated ‘personal reasons’. I will take what he says at face value. But as a Putney resident and Councillor I think we need answers. What we have had so far is a pretty muted apology and a vague promise it won’t happen again. My Council colleagues have pressed for answers and tried to have the matter formally discussed. But rather than a full update and taking questions the Council sought to shut down debate. Openness and transparency are not the way this Labour run council operate. This isn’t Florida and we ought to be able to quickly and accurately count paper ballots. A ‘spreadsheet error’ doesn’t explain why the system failed so spectacularly. After all the votes cast should equate to the number of ballot papers issued. One sheet of paper, a pencil and a calculator should be enough. Having been so incompetent the Council needs to demonstrate it can do the basics. Next week we might learn a bit more. It will need to be impressive if voters can have confidence that when we get the result next time it wont then be overturned! |