Future general elections should not be called for major holiday periods, says Electoral Commission

Many voters in Scotland were unable to take part in the general election on July 4 because they had already booked to go away at the start of the school holidays and their postal votes did not arrive before they left.

Many people were unable to vote because their postal ballots did not arrive before they went on holiday | TSPL

Edinburgh and some other Scottish councils set up emergency arrangements so people could go to the City Chambers, collect their postal ballots and fill them in on the spot before they went on holiday. 

Now the Electoral Commission has said the date of the election made it harder for some people to vote and placed additional pressures on election administrators.

And it said: "To avoid these problems at future general elections, polling day should not be scheduled, if possible, during a major holiday period in any part of the UK."

The commission, which reports on the running of every major election, also recommends reform of the postal voting system.

The report said: "Some postal voters did not receive their ballot packs in time to complete and return them before polling day. Although these problems were not systemic, postal voting systems did not work well enough for some voters and should be improved.”

It said the problems arose from the timing of the election, an increase in postal vote applications close to the deadline, a lack of public awareness of the timing of postal vote delivery, the timetable for a UK general election - which is shorter than for Scottish Parliament elections - and problems with print and software suppliers.

The report noted an increase in the proportion of people registered for a postal vote since the 2019 general election, but said the overall volume was not the problem.

The commission said it was "not uncommon" for postal ballot packs to arrive shortly before polling day.   "However, many voters may have been unaware of this and expected to receive them in time to vote before they went on holiday.   Some voters may also have been unaware of the option of voting by proxy or may not have had someone who could act as a proxy for them on polling day."

In recommending reform of postal voting, the commission said improvements should include making sure voters understand when they should expect to receive their postal vote, so they can decide if they need to choose a different way of voting; reviewing the deadline for postal vote applications; and exploring whether other forms of voting before polling day could give voters better alternatives to postal or proxy voting - including early voting and voting at a polling station of their choice.