1 Section 16 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 requires all local authorities to review their polling districts, polling places and polling stations by the end of 2007. These are defined as follows:-
- Polling district
The area created by the division of a constituency, ward or division into smaller parts, within which a polling place can be determined which is convenient to electors.
- Polling place
The building or area in which polling stations will be selected by the Returning Officer.
- Polling station
The room or building chosen by the Returning Officer where the poll takes place for each election.
Review of polling districts
2 In 2004, the local elections implemented a periodic electoral review of the Borough that introduced 25 three Member Wards compared to the previous 24. As part of that process, the Council agreed revised polling districts based on previous arrangements but taking account of the new Ward boundaries. In addition, small polling districts (some with no electors in them) were created so that the Ward polling districts were synonymous with new Parliamentary Constituency boundaries that will become effective at the next General Election.
3 Members of the Council and the Borough’s Members of Parliament are consulted each year on the polling district arrangements and any suggestions to improve the operation of polling districts and polling places are investigated and acted upon where justified. However, no adverse comments have been received from them since the new Wards were installed. Some electors did complain in the first year of operation about a polling district in the Aspull New Springs Whelley Ward that involved a long journey to the polling place in question and the Council agreed to split the polling district in half and to designate a new polling place for the new polling district to reduce the journey time for the electors concerned.
4 The Director of Environmental Services informs the Electoral Registration Officer of addresses allocated to new residential properties and this information is inputted to the Register of Electors so that electors moving into the properties can be included on the Register. If a housing estate straddles a boundary between two polling districts the boundary is redrawn so that all of the estate lies in the same polling district. However, the Council has no powers to do the same exercise if an estate straddles a boundary between two Constituencies or Wards.
Review of polling places
5 In 1998, the polling station inspectors appointed for the local elections were trained by the Council’s Disability Officers to carry out a survey on local election-day of all properties used as polling places. The information gathered was used to assess the access problems at polling places and the Council agreed to roll forward each year any underspendings on the municipal elections budget to fund improvement works to remove the obstacles encountered. The Director of Legal and Property Services was contracted to supervise this work and professional surveyors were employed in the first instance to confirm the work required at each location. The Council began with the properties involving a score of 1 since these had minimal problems that could be corrected at low cost so as to show immediate improvements. Properties at the other end of the scale were abandoned as polling places once more suitable accommodation without access problems was identified. Work on properties with progressively higher scores was carried out in subsequent years and has now been completed. As part of this review, the Director has been commissioned to carry out a survey of all polling places to ascertain whether any access problems have arisen since the original survey and improvement works were completed.
6 If properties currently used as polling places become unavailable, the same survey form is used when alternative properties are identified and the Council is informed of the disability access score when asked to designate the new properties as polling places. Any access problems are removed.
7 As part of the 2007/08 revenue budget exercise, the Council reviewed polling districts with less than 300 electors (after netting off the number of electors choosing to vote by post) and agreed to transfer the electors to the most appropriate adjoining polling district. This meant that the polling places designated for their polling districts could be abandoned and budget savings made. Whilst this was not a unanimous decision of the Council, no complaints have been received from the electors at the 2007 local elections.
8 Currently, there are five polling places that involve the use of hired temporary accommodation. In these cases, it has proved impossible to identify suitable permanent accommodation. Although ramps are provided to assist disabled electors, it is acknowledged that this situation is not ideal (including for the staff employed in the polling places) and these cases will be kept under permanent review.
Review of polling stations
9 Again, as part of the 2007/08 revenue budget exercise, the Council reviewed polling stations within polling places. The arrangement at that time was to provide an additional polling station for every 1,500 electors and this is reviewed at each election to take account of any changes in electoral numbers. The Council agreed to increase this to 2,000 electors per station to reflect the reduced numbers of personal voters. This amounted to 10 stations dispensed with and further budget savings made. The Council was conscious that the number of postal voters had shown a tenfold increase to over 30,000 following the introduction of postal votes on demand and these economies were intended to reflect the reduced numbers of electors voting in person. The efficiency of the 2007 local election was not affected by this decision.
Proposals of the review
10 The proposal is to adopt the present arrangements for polling districts, polling places and polling stations. These have been developed over the years and electors are comfortable with them. The Council is confident that they meet the needs of disabled electors and any problems brought to attention are dealt with immediately. The arrangements for polling stations within polling places are capable of meeting elector demand on election-day.
11 The existing arrangements meet the requirements of Haigh and Shevington Parish Councils. Haigh Parish Council is served by a single polling district and the Council has voiced some concern about the location of the polling place. However, it is accepted by all parties that the rural nature of the polling district means that it is impossible to find a permanent location that meets the needs of all electors equally.
