Report of the Chief Executive.

This report outlines the planning and governance arrangements for the implementation of the existing and the final duties of the Elections Act 2022 for Manchester. It also provides an overview of key lessons learned from the May 2024 local and mayoral elections, as well as initial preparation for the upcoming UK Parliamentary General Elections and other electoral administration statutory exercises.

The committee considered a report of the Chief Executive which outlined the planning and governance arrangements for the implementation of the existing and the final duties of the Elections Act 2022 for Manchester. It also provided an overview of key lessons learned from the May 2024 local and mayoral elections, as well as initial preparation for the upcoming UK Parliamentary General Elections and other electoral administration statutory exercises. 

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Key points and themes within the report included: 

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• Providing an introduction and background to the Elections Act 2022; 

• The changes that came into effect at the May 2023 local election and the May 2024 local and mayoral elections; 

• Progress with voter ID, accessibility and online absent voting applications; 

• Changes to postal vote handling rules and voting rights for British citizens living overseas and EU citizens; 

• Community engagement and communications for 2024 elections; 

• Governance and capacity; 

• Lessons learned from the May 2024 elections for the General Election; and 

• The polling district review and annual canvass, which would take place after the General Election. 

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Some of the key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included: 

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·        Welcoming the planned improvements in communications at future counts; 

• Noting that delays at the count in May were caused by the mayoral election, and querying why; 

• Whether the Council could take any learning from European Parliamentary elections for future combined polls;  

• The confidence of officers that the process for reapplying for a postal vote every 3 years would be improved;   

• Delays to the government application portal;  

• Expressing concerns that electors in some areas of the city did not receive postal vote packs until near to polling day;  

• What personal and demographic information was recorded when a voter was turned away from a polling station due to lack of sufficient ID; 

• What feedback had been received from the Manchester Disabled Persons Forum and whether any adaptation requests had been received which the Council was unable to accommodate; 

• Concerns over conduct at polling stations in some areas of the city and at the count; and  

• Querying why the count was scheduled around Friday prayers. 

The City Solicitor introduced the report and stated that the Elections Act created additional challenges for the Council’s Electoral Services Unit, particularly in polling stations as a result of the requirement for voters to produce ID. She stated that the team had met these challenges well but acknowledged there was always room for learning, such as better communication at the election count which would be rectified in future by using pre-prepared Tannoy announcements, and she reiterated that feedback from the local and mayoral elections in May 2024 had been noted to ensure a better experience at future counts.  

The City Solicitor also highlighted changes to the eligibility criteria for overseas electors which had caused additional registration pressures. She expressed concern about the possibility of a high return of postal votes on polling day but provided assurances to the committee that officers were working with Royal Mail to ensure the timely turnaround and return of completed postal votes. She stated that communication was ongoing between Royal Mail and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to emphasise these concerns and there were also conversations being held with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Electoral Commission to highlight the importance of learning from previous elections.  

The Deputy Leader took the opportunity to commend the work of the Electoral Services Unit and acknowledged members’ interest in the elections and the challenges arising from the changes of the Elections Act.  

In opening the discussion, the Chair highlighted how the government’s introduction of voter ID had cost the Council £206k and that voter fraud was a largely non-existent issue.  

In response to queries regarding delays at the local and mayoral count in May, the City Solicitor explained that GMCA was the lead authority for the mayoral election and wanted to ensure an accurate count and no variance for the combined election, which caused delays to Manchester’s count of 32 wards. She acknowledged that this could have been better communicated to attendees and apologised. The Electoral Services Corporate Delivery Manager advised that there was a natural delay to proceedings when providing verification figures to GMCA as they received figures from a number of other authorities, who were also verifying their figures at this time on the Friday, and again on the Saturday, when all 10 authorities were counting. She stated that candidates and agents had been advised that there would be a break in proceedings but that this was not initially expected to be as long as it was and that timely announcements would be made in future.  

The Electoral Services Corporate Delivery Manager explained that the delivery of combined polls was not within the Council’s control but she endeavoured to raise the comparison with European Parliamentary elections to the GMCA.   

The City Solicitor recognised that there had been recent delays in postage and that Royal Mail had been challenged on this and concerns expressed to DLUHC and the Electoral Commission. She stated that priority had been given to the return postage of postal vote packs and emphasised that applying for a postal vote online was quicker than by post.  

The Electoral Services Corporate Delivery Manager advised that the Elections Act had changed the requirement to reapply for a postal vote every 5 years to every 3 years. She explained that a reapplication would be handled in the same way as a postal vote refresh, with the Electoral Services Unit writing up to three times to those needing to reapply. She stated that there had been no issues with this process previously and expressed confidence that this would remain the case.  

Delays with the government’s application portal were acknowledged as challenging and more cumbersome to the Xpress system, which the Council used. Members were informed that improvements to the system had been delayed by the government as a result of the General Election being called but the Electoral Services Unit had increased their staffing capacity to accommodate changes to the system and a reserve bank of staff was available in the event of a high volume of applications being received. Assurances were provided that all applications received so far had been processed in the allocated timeframe without the need to call on additional members of staff.  

In response to concern over some electors not receiving their postal vote packs in a timely manner, particularly in Baguley, the City Solicitor welcomed information on the specific areas of the city affected so that this could continue being flagged to Royal Mail. She stated that there was a general feeling that Royal Mail were aware of the need to change their processes and that communication had improved. Changes in postal vote handling which the Council was unable to influence or change were also highlighted, with electors now having to complete a form if they wished to hand their postal vote into a polling station.  

It was confirmed that the data collected on electors who were turned away from polling stations for having insufficient identification did not distinguish by equality information.  

The Elections and Electoral Registration Policy Officer stated that good feedback had been received from the Manchester Disabled Persons Forum following a meeting earlier in the month and that there had been no issues with required adaptations during the local and mayoral elections. He stated that the Electoral Services Unit were looking into other adaptations that could be made and had hoped to implement these over the summer, but this would not be possible due to the General Election being called. Further feedback would be sought in autumn. It was also confirmed that all electors received a standard poll card, but this could be provided in large-print or braille format if required.  

The City Solicitor recognised issues with the conduct of some individuals outside polling stations and at the count and provided assurances that the Electoral Services Unit had met with polling station inspectors (PSIs) and presiding officers from specific stations to undertake a lessons learned exercise. It was stated that there would be additional PSIs and polling station staff, including Urdu speakers, in certain stations for future elections. It was noted that there was a lack of consistency in the confidence of presiding officers to challenge unacceptable behaviour and members were informed that candidates and agents in the parliamentary election had received a ‘Dos and Don’ts’ sheet which outlined acceptable conduct and activity. Copies of this would be available in polling stations and it would be emphasised in training sessions for presiding officers. The City Solicitor also stated that Greater Manchester Police would be part of the Council’s Command Hub and there would be a targeted police presence in certain areas on polling day.   

In response to a query regarding why the count was paused to observe Friday prayers, the City Solicitor explained that there had been previous instances where the count started earlier to accommodate religious commitments. She stated, however, that this had been reviewed and would not happen again as reserve counters would be used to cover staff who needed to leave for religious reasons. She also highlighted that there were two prayer rooms available at the count venue for male and female worshippers.  

In closing the item, the committee wished to place on record their thanks to the Electoral Services Unit for their hard work.  

Decision: 

That the report be noted.