To receive a presentation.

The Corporate Director for Governance and Head of Electoral Services gave a presentation outlining achievements, the electoral register and preparations for the forthcoming all councillor local elections.

The following information was noted:

·         Population churn in the Borough is at 41%, however the electoral register has been kept up-to-date.

·         The Council has received positive feedback on the delivery of all elections subsequent to the local election of 2014.

·         Plans for the local elections in 2018 include:

o  Early engagement with the Electoral Commission.

o  Early messages to the community about the elections.

o  Early engagement with the Met. Police who are fully engaged in supporting arrangements for delivery of the elections. It was noted that Electoral Services has received excellent support from the Police to date.

o  Member / candidate briefings outlining what the candidates may expect.

o  Eight polling places under review (a report will be made to the Board in December 2017).

o   Some additional split polling stations according to size of polling districts and nature of the area.

o  The issue of folded ballot papers will be implemented to better manage the polling booths.

o  That the Count may take place at the East Winter Garden.

o  Counting will be delivered in two phases with a break between.

o   Two teams of counting staff will be allocated to Wards where the votes polled are close; the best counting teams will be called upon in this situation.

o  Feedback from senior count staff will be incorporated into the procedures.

·         Where duplicate registrations have been detected, these have been checked individually by data matching; this has entailed much additional work.  These registrations were very high during the General Election in 2017 and the causes are under investigation

• Cabinet Office Voter ID Pilot Scheme -- the Council would now not participate in this scheme for the following reasons:
  • the introduction of significant changes in election practices would have required long preparation and lead-time.
  • the submission to participate in the pilot was made contingent to there being enough time to deliver.
• Because of the time taken by the Cabinet Office to select the type of pilot and because of the snap election in June 2017, the Returning Officer assessed that the risks of undertaking the pilot were too high and there was an added risk of an election petition on grounds of change of electoral practice.  Given the high profile of local elections in the area it was judged that withdrawal from the pilot was prudent.  The DCLG has received this decision and rationale with understanding.  A Board Member observed that the biggest area of election risk concerned postal voting and this aspect was not part of the pilot.  Concerning what measures the Council might implement to mitigate postal vote fraud the Board was informed that much work had been done on identifying and deleting duplicate registrations.  Additionally:
  • at the forthcoming election polling cards would be placed in envelopes and then mailed to voters.
  • at the stations polling clerks would be required to ask voters delivering postal votes to identify themselves.
  • the issue of voters attending a polling station with multiple polling cards would be resolved through poll clerk training.

Responding to questions from the Board the following information was provided:

• Exclusion zones around polling stations had been introduced to ensure that voters may freely access each polling station; the next election would be a rigorous test of the measure. Additionally areas where there had been previous problems during polling had been identified and would be monitored.
• Police and poll clerks would receive election training.
• A Police Officer would be posted to every Ward and remain on the Ward for the duration of the poll; these would also receive dedicated training.
• To mitigate incidents intended to subvert the new election structures, the presiding officer will regularly patrol the exterior of the polling station.  There would also be outreach to the community to emphasise safeguarding in the practice of voting.  This communication would cover all elements of the process from registration to poll.
• Budgeting management was an important element of the election process and generally elections had been run economically, notwithstanding the additional resources that had been required since 2015. 

RESOLVED

That the presentation and discussion be noted.