Bucks Council apologise over incorrect postal vote packs
Over 350 residents were sent the incorrect packs
Buckinghamshire residents in the Iver and Richings Park area were sent incorrect packs.
Buckinghamshire Council has apologised for sending the wrong ballot papers to more than 350 Bucks residents ahead of the local elections – adding it would ensure anyone “who returns the wrong pack” will not lose their vote.
The council has said it is ‘sorry’ for sending out incorrect parish ballot papers to 356 people in Iver and Richings Park ahead of the elections on Thursday, May 6.
The authority put the blunder down to a “printer error”.
It said it had cancelled the incorrect postal vote packs it first sent out and issued replacement ones.
It urged residents to use the replacement packs, adding the original postal vote packs “will not be counted”.
However, it also said it will contact anyone who returns the wrong pack “to ensure they don’t lose their vote”.
A Bucks Council spokesman said:
“Due to a printer error, postal vote packs sent to 356 electors in the Iver village and Richings Park ward of Iver Parish Council for elections on May 6, 2021, contained the incorrect parish ballot paper.
“Upon the error being identified we immediately took the following action: the postal vote packs those electors were sent have been cancelled and a replacement postal vote pack has been issued to those electors.
“The electors must use the replacement postal vote pack to vote for elections on May 6 rather than the one sent to them previously.
“Any of the original postal vote packs returned will not be counted.
“A letter advising the electors that they must use the replacement postal vote pack to vote was included in the replacement postal vote pack. We will contact anyone who returns the wrong pack to ensure they don’t lose their vote.
“Candidates for the Iver village and Richings Park parish ward have also been sent a letter advising them of this and the action taken.
“We apologise for this error and any inconvenience caused.”