Today’s election – update from official Returning Officer

The York Council has issued the following statement

Please find an elections update from Kersten England, Returning Officer for City of York.

“We can report a healthy turnout of voters across the city, predicted to be at least as high as at the last General Election.

“Like other local authorities, we are experiencing a high numbers of queries arising from the introduction of the individual electoral registration system, and our customer centre reception and telephone service will stay open until 7pm tonight to answer them.

“I can confirm that as at 4pm today, we’ve received and are processing 84% of the city’s postal votes: a higher return than in any previous election.

  “There is still time to vote: postal votes can be handed in to any polling station within your constituency. If you do not have a polling card, as long as you are registered, you’ll be able to vote. Details of polling stations are at www.york.gov.uk.”

Statement by York Returning Officer on postal votes

 “Following the delivery last week of 17,500 postal votes across York, we’ve had returned and are processing over 77% of these already.

This means we’re on track to see a much higher return for postal votes than in any other previous election.

“Should any residents have not received their postal vote and have not already contacted the council about this, they should contact electoral.services@york.gov.uk or call 01904 551 550 to speak to the team, so that we can look into what has happened and seek to find a solution in time for them to vote.

Our customer centre reception and telephone service is staying open to 7pm tonight to ensure maximum opportunity for residents to get in touch.

“Residents who have received their postal vote can post this by 4pm in a York post box, hand deliver it to the – Returning Officer at West Offices, Station Rise, York – during office hours or hand deliver it to any polling station in their constituency on polling day up to 10pm.

“I’d also like to reassure any residents who have not yet received their ballot paper or who no longer have their ballot paper for any reason, but are registered to vote, that they can still vote at any polling station in their constituency on polling day tomorrow”.