SWINDON COUNCIL has apologised after tens of thousands of polling cards apparently went astray.

The council posted out polling cards at the end of March, for use in the upcoming May 5 elections.

But it has been receiving dozens of calls a day from residents complaining theirs have not arrived.

Although you can still vote without the polling cards, the process takes longer because officers have to question the voters to confirm their identity.

One worried resident, Melanie Lowe, 61 of Gairlock Close, Sparcells, said: “We’ve spoken to a few neighbours, and they said they haven’t got theirs.

“If people aren’t getting them they may think they can’t go, or that they’re not going to bother. The lady at the council said they seem to have been lost in the post.

“If they’ve been lost in the post, could someone get them, and use them, and pretend to be us?”

Asked how many polling cards are missing, Sally Sprason, the council’s electoral services manager, said: “We haven’t got a figure. All that we know is the volume of calls coming in is higher than it normally would be.

“It seems much higher than it normally does; I’d definitely say it’s in the dozens each day.

“In our opinion too many people haven’t received polling cards. That’s why we’ve instructed Royal Mail to check if they’ve got any still at their sorting office.”

But in a statement, the Royal Mail said it was nothing to do with them.

“An investigation into discrepancies with polling cards was launched by Royal Mail, Swindon Borough Council and their suppliers as soon as we were altered to the issue,” it said.

“Enquires carried out thus far indicate Royal Mail has delivered all of the poll cards it was supplied.”

Then, late yesterday afternoon, the council finally said it had the answer – it appeared to be a problem with the company that prints the polling cards.

The council said: “We would like to apologise to those residents who have yet to receive their polling cards. Following an investigation the printers are unable to confirm that they have printed off a batch of polling cards and are therefore reprinting them at their own expense. Royal Mail has confirmed it has delivered 86,000 polling cards, but is still waiting to deliver another 70,000.

“We would like to reassure households that any outstanding polling cards will be posted tomorrow and they should receive them in plenty of time before the elections on May 5. We would like to remind people that they do not require a polling card to vote.”