Long and costly trip to cast a vote (From Warrington Guardian)

Long and costly trip to cast a vote

A woman had to travel almost 15 miles to collect her ballot paper so she could take part in this week's European elections.

Freda Woolcock had to drive to Macclesfield Town Hall, pay to park and show her passport after her postal voting forms went missing in the post.

"I couldn't believe I actually had to go there and pick them up myself," she said on Monday.

"I don't know what they would have done if it were someone elderly who couldn't drive."

Mrs Woolcock, who lives in Woodside, Knutsford, had to wait while officials checked her details and destroyed information held on her previous voting form.

But on Monday after casting her vote at home she decided to hand her form into a special delivery point at Knutsford Civic Centre instead of returning it by post. "There was no way after going through what I did that I was them putting it back in the post," she said. "The whole point of a postal vote seems to have been lost in my case."

Mrs Woolcock contacted the borough council after her postal voting form failed to turn up a week ago.

Her husband Jack's form arrived on time but she was told to wait until the next day to see if it arrived.

Polite

By Friday it had still not arrived and she was worried she would not be able to return her vote on time.

Council staff told her they had ordered a replacement and on Saturday afternoon Mrs Woolcock had to go to Macclesfield to pick it up.

"The staff seemed rushed off their feet but they were so polite and helpful," she said.

"I have nothing against them because they're just doing their job but this whole system seems to have been in a mess."

The council managed to get all its 122,000 voting forms out last week despite delays with the firm that was printing them.

This week it revealed that 10% of residents in the borough had now voted.

On Monday a spokesman said Mrs Woolcock's case was an isolated one and apologised for the inconvenience.

But Mrs Woolcock said people should have been given a choice how to vote.

"If we were going to the polling station as normal and my card did not turn up then I could still go along and they'd cross me off the list and I could vote," she said.

"But if I'd had to wait much longer for my postal form I would have been unable to vote at all.

"I just wonder how many voting forms will get lost in the post on the way back."

ssmith@guardiangrp.co.uk