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ANDREW Gwynne MP says out of date electoral rolls will prevent everyone having a vote
Hundreds could miss chance to vote on congestion charge
Peter Devine17/ 9/2008
HUNDREDS of Stockport residents could be prevented from voting in a crucial ballot on congestion charging intended to gauge opinion right across Greater Manchester.
Reddish MP Andrew Gwynne claims Stockport Council’s intention to use out of date electoral rolls to identify Stockport residents for a postal vote means many will not get the opportunity to have their say.
The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) has decided to hold an all postal vote at the beginning of December.
December 11 will be the deadline for receipt of ballot papers to the proposals, which will bring in an investment of up to £3billion across Greater Manchester, and road pricing by 2013 if enough people vote in favour.
However, Mr Gwynne is concerned that while all residents in the Denton half of his constituency - under Tameside Council - will receive a ballot paper because Tameside intends to use up-to-date electoral rolls, Stockport Council insists it isn’t possible to present up-to-date rolls ahead of the election.
Mr Gwynne said the AGMA meeting heard seven of the 10 authorities could present up-to-date electoral rolls ahead of the vote - only Stockport Council said it was impossible to produce it.
The decision means Stockport will use the electoral roll as of December, 2007.
Mr Gwynne said: "All that AGMA was asking Stockport to do was to present its up-to-date electoral roll a few weeks ahead of when they normally do so in December, but Councillor Goddard refused point blank to cooperate."
"As I represent a cross-borough parliamentary constituency, this means unless Stockport Council change their mind, only about 60 percent of the adult population I represent will legally have the right to vote.
"What a silly decision, and potentially a very stupid mistake."
A Stockport Council spokesman said there would be a number of problems arising from trying to produce the annual register of electors for the November 5 deadline, three weeks ahead of its normal deadline of December 1.
The spokesman added: "This gives us just eight weeks to send out 126,000 registration forms and 60,000 reminders, as well as getting our canvassers to visit approximately 30,000 properties in Stockport.
"Not only that, it then gives our small electoral registration office just eight weeks to process all of these forms, input the information, check accuracy and do cross reference checks with other council departments such as Council Tax.
"There is no way that the current staff employed in electoral registration will be able to cope effectively with this increased workload within normal working hours, so it would mean the employment of temporary staff, which in turn increases the risk of mistakes on the register. There is also the impact of the overtime required from the full time staff. And, although it is a very minor consideration, there will also inevitably be an impact on the new performance indicators which were introduced for the first time this year."
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