Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to contact Returning Officers responsible for the conduct of the local elections in England in 2018 to ask how many tendered ballot papers were issued as a result of people turning up to a polling station to find that their vote had already been cast.

The Government has no plans to ask Returning Officers to provide this information. It is for the Returning Officers to ensure they run free and fair elections. It is open to candidates, parties and accredited observers to scrutinise polls and raise any issues. Whilst details of tendered ballot papers issues are recorded at each polling station, numbers are not totalled and there is no requirement to record this number.