A councillor says is is “deeply concerned” that people will become disenfranchised if coronavirus impacts the way local elections are delivered.
People in Lichfield and Burntwood are scheduled to go to the polls on 6th May for a number of ballots:
- Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner elections
- Staffordshire County Council elections
- Lichfield City Council Stowe ward by-election
- Lichfield District Council Summerfield & All Saints ward by-election
- Burntwood neighbourhood planning referendum
But with the coronavirus crisis continuing, a meeting of Lichfield District Council’s audit and member standards committee was discussing the risks associated with the polls either not going ahead as planned or being disrupted by COVID-19.
Cllr Alan White, Conservative representative for Whittington and Streethay ward, said that the potential issues stretched far beyond the mechanisms of the local authority itself.
“It’s not just a risk to the council – it’s a risk to the electorate and potential candidates of disenfranchisement.
“I am deeply concerned about the potential for disenfranchisement of the electorate, the potential that candidates cannot stand because this is not how democracy should be conducted.
Cllr Alan White
Cllr White said the Government had “missed the boat” on introducing legislation to allow alternative methods of ballots taking place.
And he warned risks were high even before polling day itself, with the local elections due to be officially called on 29th March.
“If a potential candidate has COVID-19 they can’t get out and get their nomination papers signed. If we are still in lockdown it will be illegal to get a signature on the nomination paper.
“In terms of all postal ballots, that can’t happen – Government has missed the boat as it requires primary legislation to change the way an election is conducted – so it will be in the traditional format and some people will want to turn up to cast their ballot.
“But say they are diagnosed with COVID-19 on 4th May and polling day is 6th May, then the only way they can cast their ballot is with an emergency proxy vote.
“Across Lichfield district that means potentially 1,000 people who might need an emergency proxy vote. That requires council staff to get to those people by 5pm on that day in order to cast their vote, otherwise they are disenfranchised.”
Cllr Alan White
“Imagine the kerfuffle”
Recent local elections have shown that small margins can be the difference between victory and defeat.
And Cllr White says the danger of marginal results at a time when some voters may not be able to get out to the ballot box should not be underestimated.
“There are some places where the balance is very fine.
“You can imagine the kerfuffle if their are close calls on elections and people have been disenfranchised.
“There needs to be reassurance that you can deliver safe elections, not just for the council itself but for the electorate – that’s the most important thing. That’s what we are here for.
“People talk about by 6th May we could be in a safer place with COVID – in rural districts like this one, sometimes the polling places are pokey little holes.
“Trying to create COVID-secure settings there is pretty difficult to achieve.”
Cllr Alan White
