MORE than 1,000 postal votes were missed off the official election count for the Royston Ward last week, prompting the council to apologise for the ‘unacceptable’ error.
Sarah Norman, chief executive of Barnsley Council, said: “At the Barnsley Council local government elections count on May 5, 2022, we failed to count a box of postal votes for the Royston ward.
“The postal votes have now been counted, and the figures have been recalculated.
“The result has not changed.
“Dave Webster from the Labour Party is elected for the Royston ward.
“This discrepancy in the number of votes and the declaration of incorrect figures is not acceptable.
“We’re very sorry that this has happened.
“We invited the candidates and their agents to the Metrodome this afternoon to explain the situation and express our sincere apologies for any distress that this has caused.
“We’re making all paperwork and data available to the Electoral Commission and to candidates and agents to inspect.
“There are clear lessons to be learnt from this, and we’ll make sure we implement these in future election counts.”
