Misleading claims about postal ballots
A number of misleading comments have appeared on social media over the last day, following a post saying that postal ballots issued to Telford constituency voters “arrived with” statements from a political party.
This has led to an assumption by some that such information was included inside the postal ballot pack.
The borough’s returning officer Jonathan Eatough has today contacted the Electoral Commission to confirm that the postal ballots issued for the Telford and the Wrekin parliamentary constituencies met the legal requirements for postal ballot packs.
The returning officer confirmed that he attended the company printing and packing postal ballot packs for the local constituencies and that he saw them being packed in accordance with the law.
The Electoral Commission has also posted on social media that “political parties often know when poll cards and postal vote packs are due to go out, and may time the delivery of their leaflets to arrive in the same post”.
All candidates and agents in the Telford constituency were informed at the same time by the Returning Officer in advance of the date when postal ballots would be issued to Royal Mail for posting.
The individual who first raised the issue has now confirmed on social media that the political party literature was not part of the postal ballot pack sent by the Council.
