Agenda item

The report reviews the arrangements for the Elections which took place on 4 May 2023.   It provides information, feedback and considers lessons learned.

In introducing this item, the Chair reminded members that should anyone want to make any comments regarding Voter ID, it was important that members kept those comments related to management of the process which was what the Council had control and influence over, rather than any discussion on opinion of the change implemented by Central Government. The Chair then invited the Electoral Services Manager to present the report.  She confirmed that the report provided members with a review of the Arun District and Parish elections that took place on 4 May 2023, it included statical information about the elections and feedback that had been collated. Feedback had been sought from a large number of people who were involved in the election process and confirmed that the feedback was still being collated currently.

          The Chair thanked the officer for the report and stated that it was important to recognise the incredible amount of work undertaken by the election team and the wider individuals who also helped ensure the execution of the election. He then took questions and comments from members where feedback for the location of the Poling Station for Hotham Ward was given, it was stated that the location was unsuitable for disabled access, it was cold for those who worked in the station all day. It was requested that the station location was reviewed prior to any further election taking place. The Chair also stated that the other Poling Station in Hotham was at the University, but he found that there was only 30 minutes of free parking before individuals were issued with a parking ticket, he requested that the arrangements for this was also reviewed.

          Councillor Lloyd was then invited to speak where she stated that she felt the feedback felt a bit unbalanced. She explained that although problems would come up throughout the day, she thought the staff that she interacted with worked incredibly hard, were as professional and engaging at the start of the day as they were at the end of the day. She expressed her thanks to all involved. Other members of the committee were supportive and in agreement with the comments made by Councillor Lloyd.

The comment in the report at paragraph 4.12, that stated large enough venues to allow for in-person appointments could not be booked, was queried given that there were large areas of the Civic Centre building that were thought not to be being used during this time.

Regarding paragraph 4.22, it was acknowledged that staffing the election had its difficulties, and therefore what preparation was being undertaken now to ensure that this issue was not repeated when the next election arrived.  The Electoral Services Manager advised that in 2021 a lot of staff that had been on the staffing database requested to be removed from the database, staff were put off by the introduction of voter ID. However, a lot of feedback has been received from a lot of the new staff found for the election had been positive. She confirmed that contact will be made in September 2023 with those on the staffing database to obtain their commitment to the next election that was expected in May 2024 and that work was always being undertaken to recruit new people into the roles available in the run up to an election.

The Head of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer then advised members that for the nominations process, the report did state that the in-person appointments would be reintroduced for future elections. He asked for clarity on the ‘other areas’ of the building that was thought could be used, as all the available areas were used where they could be. The member who raised the point, stated that there were now less employees employed at the council than previously and a lot of officers were working from home, therefore it was assumed that more office space could have been utilised better. It was confirmed by the Head of Law and Governance that full time equivalent figures were higher and in terms of using office space, although it may appear that this space was underutilised, he could not confirm for future elections that this space would be available due to the ongoing culture change work that was being undertaken corporately where many staff had expressed a desire in returning to the working from the office on a more regular basis.  

          Additional feedback was received that there was some confusion at the Poling Stations in East Preston as some voters were being sent to the wrong Poling Stations when arriving at their assumed Poling Station. It was suggested that detailed maps could be provided so that staff ensure that they can direct voters to the correct station when needed. It was also commented that prior to the election there had been a lot of ‘unfounded’ hype that caused a lot of additional work for the council to overcome ahead of the election. Feedback was then provided by the Chair in relation to submitting candidate documents online, however, he was surprised to find that the checking process was not also automated, as an officer had to manually check each form and then provide feedback. He also advised that there had been a number of questions and queries emailed and or telephone messages left where there was quite a considerable amount of delay in receiving answers to those, which as an agent was daunting enough, but for those candidates who did not have an agent this would be quite confusing. He suggested that moving a forward a specific officer should be dedicated to this work as it would be more helpful for candidates. He also stated that standing for election was a matter of choice for candidates and it must be recognised the enormous amount of work completed by officers.

The Electoral Services Manager agreed that there had been a few issues throughout the nominations process. She confirmed that the plan was to trial an all-online form that would provide a much simpler process for all to execute. She also confirmed that the delays seen in responding to questions and queries was due to being understaffed, however this was also recognised by officers as a service that needed to be improved and there would be one lead officer for future elections who will work to providing responses within a 48-hour timeframe.

The Group Head of Law and Governance was then invited to speak to the comments made on the vote ID, he agreed that there was a lot of noise around the voter ID and this had created a significant increase in workload. He then provided feedback from the Electoral Commission findings after the elections had been completed. In summing up he stated that actually the overall experience of the introduction of the voter ID process was not received as negatively as it was initially thought it may be and he hoped that that provided reassurance to anyone who wanted to come back to working elections or indeed anyone who hadn’t considered this work previously and may be interested in future elections.

          Specifically focusing on the feedback that had been received regarding the length of time taken at the count to count each ward, what reassurance could be given to ensure that this would be reviewed and what other arrangements were being considered. It was also asked if staff were asked to provide feedback. It was confirmed that staffing feedback had been included in the appendices, it was also still being collated and would be updated to ensure any questions or points raised could be addressed, the Electoral Services Manager explained that the service is legislation led and sometimes where questions are raised or suggestions are made for improvements it needs to be explained where legislation would not allow for changes or why a task is completed in the way it is.  She went on to explain that there had already been officer discussions held on what improvements could be implemented for future elections. Throughout the count staffing breaks were staggered, however the verification did take longer than expected due to various reasons, one being votes being placed in the wrong ballot boxes at double or triple stations another reason being the number of new staff who were assisting at the count. Consideration had been given to increasing the number of count teams for future elections from 7 to 8 as well as later start times, not using the same staff who have completed poling day duties. A full document would be provided and shared with members that answers all questions, feedback and plans for future elections.

          Final feedback received was that communication at the count could have been improved if there had been people whose role it was to keep candidates and agents updated on what was happening and when.

          The Chair thanked members for their feedback and the officers for the answers provided.