General election the smoothest ever, Wolverhampton councillors told

Councillors heard the positive verdict during a discussion on a report highlighting feedback from the July 4 poll during a meeting of the authority’s governance and ethics committee on October 24.

On polling day, Wolverhampton had a total of 226,059 people eligible to vote and 110,718 votes were cast, giving an overall turnout of 48.92 per cent over three parliamentary constituencies.

The council’s chief operating officer, David Pattison, told the meeting: “This was the smoothest election we have had bearing in mind it was done at short notice in what was a really challenging environment.

“We were dealing with a snap election with new boundaries.”

The council operated 127 polling stations in Wolverhampton and a further 32 in Walsall with a total of 22 schools used where there was no alternative.

A total of 561 staff were recruited to run the polling stations and 42 staff were on duty at 22 stations opening 38,135 postal votes.

The verification and counting process took place at WVActive Aldersley where 253 staff completed the entire operation by 4.30am.

Of people who went to vote at a polling station, 99.9 per cent brought photo ID that matched legal requirements.

A total of 260 electors were turned away for not having the correct ID however 179 returned with appropriate ID and were issued with a ballot paper and allowed to cast their vote.

The meeting was told the 70 per cent of voters who were initially turned away but returned and were able to vote was a slightly higher percentage than the national average.

Committee chairperson, Cllr Rita Potter, said: “Why didn’t they bring their ID in the first place, did they not know? Then they are coming back and bringing it, it’s not like they haven’t got it.”