Recount called for in Hurworth after doubts over postal votes

Darlington council yesterday applied to the county court to have votes recounted in the Hurworth ward, after it emerged that some votes – believed to be about 500 postal ones – may not have been tallied in last Thursday's election.

An initial investigation at the council suggests that the ballot papers were verified – checked to make sure they were in order – but were not included in the final count.

The error comes just days after 89 General Election ballot papers were issued at the town's Whessoe polling station without the name of the Ukip candidate, David Hodgson, on them. The mistake happened when the guillotine used to cut the ballot papers for the Darlington constituency was set in error to the size of the neighbouring Sedgefield constituency, meaning Mr Hodgson was cut off.

Yesterday, the council took the unusual step of applying to Darlington County Court for permission to reopen the sealed ballot boxes and recount the votes for the ward to see whether the declared result still stands.

The Conservative candidate Lorraine Tostevin topped the poll with 653 votes. As Hurworth elects two councillors, the Liberal Democrats' second-placed Joe Kelley was also successful, with 582 votes, although his third-placed wife, Claire, missed out with 531 votes.

They raised the alarm when they got home at dawn after the count last Friday.

"The results, when they were announced, were not close enough to demand a recount but, as soon as we got home, we realised that the numbers did not add up,” said Councillor Kelley. "It appears that a significant number of votes have not been counted.”

Mrs Kelley added: “We’re not trying to change the result, but it seems to us there are 500 people whose votes haven’t been counted, and that’s not right.

“We want their votes to be counted, and if there’s an error in the system that’s allowed this to happen, we want that to be put right.

“If I’ve come third, that’s fine, but I want to know I’ve come third legitimately, and I want everyone to know that their votes have been counted.”

Ada Burns, returning officer at the council, apologised for the mistake and said: “It is the first time we have had a dual election for 36 years.

“This was a very complex election with more than 270 staff working on the night and I regret to say that the following day one of the candidates alerted us to what he believed to be a possible error.

“He asked us to look again at the declared results because the number of votes cast in this ward appeared to be low compared to the number of ballot papers issued.

“I took immediate advice from the Electoral Commission and instructed our audit team to carry out an investigation. That investigation is now complete and confirms that the postal votes for this ward were verified but may not have been included in the count on the night.”

She said the supervisor responsible for the mistake does not work for the authority.

"As a consequence of the result of the investigation, I have decided to apply to the court to reopen the sealed ballot papers to see if the declared results would have been affected," she said. “If agreed, the court will prescribe how the sealed ballot papers will be opened and votes recounted.

“The inspection will not change the result but will enable candidates to decide whether to issue a petition. Until that is known, the declared results will stand.

“We will be contacting all of the candidates who stood for election in this ward and advised them of my decision to apply to the court for the ballot papers to be reopened and votes recounted, and apologised for the inconvenience caused.”

The court's decision should be known next week.

Charles Johnson, Chairman of South Durham Conservatives, said: “We are very disappointed that this has happened. We will have to wait and see what the outcome of the investigation is.

“Lorraine Tostevin knows there is an investigation and we hope that whatever the outcome is, it doesn’t change the results.”