24/10/11…Council chief to forfeit fee for ‘shambolic’ election

THE official responsible for what were dubbed ‘shambolic’ local elections held in the district in May, will not be claiming some of his fees.

South Oxfordshire’s Chief Executive and Returning officer, David Buckle, will not now be paid for running 17 parish elections following a series of problems in the run-up to polling day and on the day itself.

As well as 2,000 residents rendered illegible to take part in the election of new district councillors and the Alternative Vote referendum because they did not receiving voting papers, a number of other problems lead to criticism of Mr Buckle.

In a letter to local councils, including Thame Town Council, Mr Buckle said: ?I have decided not to invoice you for the personal fee I am entitled to claim as returning officer for your parish elections. In view of the problems that arose, I do not think it appropriate that I receive any personal payment in respect of the local elections.?

Councils will also receive a discount on their overall election charge after printing company Paragon, which received most of the blame from an independent review, paid the district council compensation for its poor performance.

Other errors included failing to print more than 1,000 polling cards, missing ballot paper numbers on postal voting packs, not supplying 2,035 packs to Royal Mail and sending some packs to the wrong addresses.

The count was held at Thame leisure centre and took over 15 hours to complete, causing staff to have to work after midnight because of problems verifying postal votes.

Thame Town Council expects to receive a discount of around 50% of the