• Report by:

    Karen M Donnelly, Chief Solicitor & Monitoring Officer, Legal & Regulatory Services

  • TN Number:

    113-24

  • Subject:

    General Election 4th July 2024 (12) – Mid Dunbartonshire County Constituency Postal Votes/Replacement Packs

  • Responsible Officer:

    Karen M Donnelly, Chief Solicitor & Monitoring Officer

  • Publication:

    This Technical Note will be published on the Council’s website following circulation to Members. Its contents may be disclosed or shared outwith the Council.

Section

  1. This is the latest in a series of Technical Notes to update Members in relation to the ongoing planning and arrangements for the upcoming UK Parliamentary election.
  2. Members will be aware of the media coverage surrounding the issue of Postal Vote packs, and concerns where voters are going on holiday before their pack arrives.
  3. As advised in an earlier Technical Note, just under 21,000 Postal Vote Packs have been issued for the Mid Dunbartonshire County constituency, an increase from 14,000 in previous elections.
  4. Postal Vote packs are issued in tranches and later tranches cannot be released until the data is received from the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).  In Scotland, this function does not sit with the Council, but instead sits with the District Joint Valuer.
  5. The final tranches of data were received at the end of last week.  The lateness of this data is down to last minute applications for a postal vote which are incomplete or for some other reason the ERO has questions for the applicant.
  6. Given the lateness of receipt, these packs were completed manually and were hand delivered to voters on Saturday. 
  7. The Elections Team has received some calls and emails from voters advising that their Postal Vote pack has not arrived and that they are due to leave the country imminently.  In these instances, the Election Team has prepared replacement packs, and these have either been collected or hand delivered, in line with normal practice at East Dunbartonshire.
  8. Members should note that, by law, the Council could not issue replacement packs until 28th June.
  9. In terms of requests for replacement Postal Vote packs, then it is important to point out that the numbers issued are broadly in line with previous elections.
  10. Postal votes continue to be delivered to the Council’s Headquarters and are being opened at the sessions previously intimated.  To date, approximately 14,400 Postal Votes have been returned and verified, and a further 1900 are batched and ready for opening tomorrow.
  11. The remaining sessions are as follows:

Event

Date

Postal Vote Opening Session – Tom Johnston Chamber

Wednesday 3 July at 9.30 am

Postal Vote Opening Session – Tom Johnston Chamber

Thursday 4 July at 9.30 am

Postal Vote Opening Session – Leisuredrome

Thursday 4 July at 6.00 pm

  1. In addition to the above, any remaining Postal Votes handed in at Polling Places or the Council’s Headquarters on Polling Day will be opened at the Count.
  2. If you have any questions, please contact Karen Donnelly in the first instance.