More than 90,000 electoral cards must be resent due to printing errors

A printing error forced almost 100,000 voting cards across Teesside to be resent.

The error affected voters in three parliamentary constituencies, as a total of 96,572 ballot papers were sent again for the July 4 general election. Stockton Council says it is working with the company that printed the cards to find out how the printing error occurred and how much it will cost.

All election cards have been reissued for people voting in person in the Stockton North and new Stockton West constituencies, along with 8,529 people who live in the Stockton ward but belong to the new Middlesbrough and Thornaby constituency East. The cards had originally been sent to Royal Mail for delivery with the official polling station names omitted from the address.

Mike Greene, the council’s acting returning officer, said: “Unfortunately, there has been a printing error on the election cards which have begun to be distributed to borough residents in the Stockton North, Stockton West and Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituencies, who have chosen to vote in person at a polling station.

“The error concerns the name of the polling station found on the first line of the address and will not affect anyone’s ability to vote. To avoid any confusion, replacement polling cards are being sent to all residents (who have chosen vote at a polling station).

He said replacement election cards had been provided to Royal Mail for delivery as soon as possible, adding: “Residents are advised to ignore election cards with the error and wait for the replacement to arrive. “This does not affect the cards. postal elections.

“The city council commissions an external company to print the municipality’s electoral cards. We will work with the company to understand how the error occurred and the financial implications.”

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