9 February 2007
More than 11,000 residents in Eastbourne who have voted by post or proxy in the past, have been asked to provide their signature and their date of birth. This is to meet the new security checks for postal voting. At the next election, all postal voters will have to submit their signature and date of birth to compare it with the information already supplied.
So far 70% of postal voters have managed to return the forms and unfortunately a large number have needed to be sent back because they have been incorrectly filled in.
Returning Officer Martin Ray says, “It is important to improve the security of postal votes for people to supply this information as quickly as possible. If replies are not received by 1 March, I will have to cancel their postal vote. That may prove inconvenient as those who still wish to vote by post will need to apply again.
As in the rest of the country, the number of postal voters in the town have increased to more than 20% of the electorate since it has been possible for postal votes to be available on demand. Clearly a large number of people find this more convenient than voting in person on election day. To help my staff to help voters use their preferred way of voting, an early accurate return of the information is needed.”
All Councils across England are having to write to anyone who has asked to vote by post or use a proxy to vote on their behalf, to ask for their signature and date of birth. If you are in doubt as to whether or not you should have received a letter, please contact the council’s electoral services office.
