Postal ballots ‘delayed after postmen told to prioritise parcels’

Postal ballots were delayed after postmen were told to prioritise parcels, voters have claimed.

As many as 120 constituencies have experienced delivery delays or problems as the postal voting system struggled to cope with rocketing demand.

Thousands of people found themselves unable to cast their votes on Thursday after postal votes were delayed in constituencies across the country.

Some voters said they had been told by their postmen that their ballots were delayed because sorting offices were making sure parcels were delivered first.

One couple said that they had not received their postal ballots in time to send them back before they went to France.

Sandra Javens and her husband Dave, who live in West Sussex, had applied to vote by post ahead of the start of their holiday on June 20. But they did not receive their ballots in time, and said that they “haven’t been given a choice – and that’s not right”.

Mrs Javens said she was told by a postman that they were “prioritising parcels at the moment”, adding: “When the postman came to the door, I asked: ‘Have you not got anything for me?’ He said ‘I’m sorry madam, but they are prioritising parcels at the moment.’”

Jon Pinches, a director of MPS, a company that works with local authorities to print ballot papers and polling cards, said he was “aware” that parcel deliveries were being prioritised. He added that he had been told of staffing problems at delivery offices by postmen and Royal Mail workers.

Royal Mail denied parcels were being prioritised, and said there are no delays with either parcels or post in West Sussex.

A spokesman said: “We have a specialist elections team that plans every aspect of the elections delivery programmes and works closely with local authorities to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

“We have investigated concerns with the delivery of postal votes in Westbourne and can confirm that all postal votes we have received for the area have been delivered without delay.”

In February, staff members told BBC Panorama that letters were left behind in sorting offices, with tracked items and parcels prioritised for delivery.

In 2023, Ofcom, the regulator, accepted Royal Mail’s assertion that it did not prioritise parcels, but still fined the postal service £5.6 million for missing targets. The postal service denied that it gives less priority to letters.

Voters had to apply for a postal vote by 5pm on June 19, and were advised to immediately return them.

Those who have not had time to send their ballots back by post are able to hand in their vote at polling stations or council offices in their constituency, although changes in the Elections Act 2022 mean they will have to fill in a form when they do so.

People who cannot travel to a polling station to cast their vote in person, or who have already gone on holiday, have effectively been disenfranchised by the chaos.

Across the UK, 21 per cent of people voted by post in the 2019 election. The number voting by post is expected to increase by more than a million this year, with more voters are away on summer holidays.

The Electoral Commission confirmed that the postal voting problems would form part of its post-election research.

There have been days of back and forth between party leaders, councils and Royal Mail over who is responsible for the postal vote chaos.

The Telegraph understands that the short timescale of the election, problems with printing ballots and delivery issues have all contributed to the delays.

Royal Mail has repeatedly denied that there are backlogs of postal ballots in sorting offices. Sources told The Telegraph that extra staff would be in depots on Thursday to ensure no postal votes were left ahead of the 10pm deadline for them to be returned.

North West Essex, where more than 2,600 ballots were delayed as the result of “human error” by the council, has experienced some of the most severe problems.

Last week, the council chief executive said he was “mortified” by the delays, and that council workers were hand-delivering ballots to get them to voters in time.

Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, said on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday that the Labour-led council had “potentially disenfranchised up to 2,600 postal voters by forgetting to send them their ballot papers”.