DEFEATED Labour candidate Andrew Dismore has prepared a dossier of what he alleges to be electoral problems experienced by voters at polling stations run by Barnet Council, which he believes cost him the Hendon seat.

The former MP lost by 106 votes to Tory Matthew Offord, one of the tightest marginal seats in the country, at the General Election polls on May 6.

In the 16-page document Mr Dismore cites examples from more than 200 witnesses who came forward with problems which prevented either them, or other people, voting.

He told the Times Series: “The most serious issues are the problems with postal votes. Clearly the whole point about them is people get them in good time so they can vote, particularly if they are going away on holiday or for health reasons.

“Many did not arrive, some got the wrong voting papers and others were given bad advice and were not told they could take them to the polling stations and things like that.

“At polling stations there were some with major queues which took hours, there were not enough staff to handle both the local and national votes and many people were put off by that.

“It seems most of these problems happened in what were traditional Labour areas.”

He cited an example of Dollis Infants School, where queues formed at various points through the day and he said around 30 people were turned away at 10pm after the polls closed.

Mr Dismore had considered lodging an election petition with the High Court to review to result, but could not raise the £250,000 it was estimated to cost to do so.

He added: “Unfortunately, despite being told by lawyers I had a good case, there's nothing I can do about it now.

“I think there needs to be a simpler way of challenging a result if there's a genuine case for an election being badly. Election petitions cost into six figures which is not manageable for most people.

“The real issue is people lost their right to vote. Barnet Council say they are conducting a review but they seem to be in denial about what has happened.”

Barnet Council, which is carrying out a review into electoral processes across the borough's three constituencies, confirmed they had received the dossier.

In a statement it added: “We will be asking Cllr Geoffrey Johnson, as Mr Dismore’s agent, for full copies of witness statements, or, if he feels it more appropriate, for contact details of those people interviewed who would be prepared to help the assistant chief executive in preparing the review.”

At a glance: The allegations in Andrew Dismore's dossier

Polling stations

Problems are alleged to have occurred at 19 polling stations, with people being turned away, told they were not on the electoral register having received polling cards or leaving long-queues because booths were understaffed.

By the evening queues were forming at stations in Orange Tree Hill, Burnt Oak, Algernon Road, Dollis Infant School and others, with some witnesses reporting queuing for around an hour or more.

In the dossier, problems of staffing are also pointed to, with only two members of staff at many stations to administer both the local and General elections, which contributed to the delays.

There are accusations at Algernon Road, West Hendon, people were advised to leave the queue at 9pm because they “probably won't get a chance to vote” before the 10pm deadline.

When the staff did shut the doors at 10pm around 15 people protested, and after a consultation with a superior the presiding officer decided to allow people to vote.

At Dollis Infant School the presiding officer reportedly needed the assistance of police to close the gates as the because around 25 irate residents were angry at being denied their vote.

Other stations mentioned in the report are Barnfield, Mill Hill East, West Hendon Community Centre, Bell Lane, Hyde, St Augustine's Church, Hendon Library, Broadfields, St Peter's Church, Harvester Car Park, Station Road and Deansbrook School.

Postal Voting

A Barnet Council worker reported 2,500 postal votes “lying round” in the council offices on April 30, with 100 council staff being drafted in to hand deliver them because volunteers could not find their addresses.

This led to postal votes not arriving or arriving too late for hundreds of people to return them on time.

Some people were not aware they could ask for duplicate ballot papers if they had not arrived, whilst others were told to travel to the North London Business Park to vote.

Another witness reported his ballot paper arrived but his wife's did not, but when they rang the help line on May 6 the phones were not answered and his wife did not get to vote.

Another man reported being sent postal ballots despite not wanting them this year, having had them previously, and threw the papers away. However, when he went to vote in person he was unable to take part in the Parliamentary ballot.

Others

only received a local election ballot paper, without a general election voting slip in the envelope.

Other

Bad advice given to residents who had not received polling cards and went to polling stations to try and vote, but were not directed to the correct ones in time to vote.

One voter with dual nationality tried to amend his voting details and after following the instructions he was given his details were not changed by the council in time to vote.

Another 20 witnesses gave evidence stating they had not had their details changed or entered correctly on the electoral register for a number of reasons.

What do you think? Did you experience similar problems at polling stations? Leave your comments below.