Ballot Papers

(asked on 20th July 2017) - View Source

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many and what proportion of postal ballot papers were declared null and void in each of the last five general elections.


Answered by
Bridget Phillipson Portrait
Bridget Phillipson
Minister for Women and Equalities
This question was answered on 5th September 2017

The Electoral Commission collected data from Returning Officers for all UK constituencies following the UK Parliamentary general elections in 2001, 2005, 2010 and 2015. The numbers of postal votes rejected by Returning Officers were as follows:

Year

Postal ballots issued

Postal ballots returned

Postal ballots rejected

Postal ballots rejected (% of those returned)

2001

1,758,055

1,402,073

31,189

2.2%

2005

5,362,501

4,110,039

146,247

3.6%

2010

6,996,006

5,818,853

221,988

3.8%

2015

7,592,735

6,516,228

214,155

3.3%

The Commission is collecting data from Returning Officers following the UK Parliamentary general election in June 2017. This data will be published in September 2017.

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