Agenda item

To consider the report of the Managing Director (in the role of Returning Officer for Local Government Elections).

Michelle Morris, Managing Director (Returning Officer); Rhian Hayden, Chief Officer Resources (Deputy Returning Officer) and Andrea Jones, Head of Legal and Corporate Compliance (Deputy Returning Officer) declared an interest but remained in the meeting whilst this item of business was considered, on the understanding that they would leave if Members wished to discuss the issue of fees.

Councillor T. Smith left the meeting at this juncture.

Consideration was given to the report of the Managing Director (in the role of Returning Officer for Local Government Elections).

The Managing Director (in the role of Returning Officer for Local Government Elections) spoke to the report which sought approval for the resourcing and funding requirements in respect of the forthcoming local elections in May 2022.  The report also sought approval for staff payments and gave an explanation of the main accountabilities in the administration of efficient local elections.

Reference was made to Section 2 of the report and Members were advised that that in terms of the Count and Declaration of results for both the County Borough and Town/Community Council elections, that in common with most other Welsh Councils, this would take place on the day after the Poll i.e. on Friday, 6^th May, 2022.

In addition, once the Notice of Election was published on 18^th March, 2022 it was proposed that thereafter, formal Council business would cease during the pre-election period i.e. no council or committee meetings would be held, unless there was urgent business that needed to be attended to. 

The Managing Director continued by advising that since the preparation of the report confirmation via a Ministerial Statement had been received that Blaenau Gwent would be one of four authorities along with Torfaen, Caerphilly and Bridgend that would participate an Early Voting Pilot for the local government elections in the Spring. 

Work was currently being undertaken with Coleg Gwent targeting 16-17 first time voters and to establish an early polling station on the Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of the normal day of voting on the Thursday, 5^th May. It was noted that early voting would be extended to all residents who was eligible to vote in the County Borough and a communication to that effect would be released at the appropriate time.  Whilst the cost of the pilot was additional to the £140,000 budget, this additional expenditure would be met by Welsh Government so, therefore, this would not have any financial impact on the Council’s budget.

In reply to a question regarding Councillor engagement, the Managing Director referred to the report which set out the main areas of action and advised that one of these elements included candidates and agents’ briefings. Briefings would be held early in the new year with prospective candidates in addition, following close of nominations a further candidates briefing would be undertaken.  Therefore, there would be a number of opportunities for candidates to receive briefings on the pilot and how early voting would operate in practice.

In reply to a question, it was confirmed that 18 was the minimum age that an individual needed to be to stand as a candidate at an election.

In reply to a further question regarding the policing of electoral register at the college polling station, the Managing Director advised that a system called Modern Democracy was used and this enabled presiding officers to access the live electoral register via electronic tablets across the County Borough.   These registers would need to be updated at the end of polling on the Tuesday and Wednesday i.e. before the polls opened on the Thursday in order to ensure that an individual could not vote twice.  A further challenge was that ballot papers would need to be available for every single ward for early voting, however, the purpose of the pilot was to ascertain the issues and potential solutions for introducing early voting as a more standard part of voting in the future and work was being undertaken with colleagues in Welsh Government and other local authorities to identify these solutions.

It was unanimously,

RESOLVED that the report be accepted and Option 3 (a) be endorsed, namely that:

-      the information provided be noted; and

-      Council agreed to resource and fund the Election and associated costs, as set out in the report.