Postal votes in town on the rise

About one in eight voters '“ or 12 per cent '“ is so far finding postal voting a first class way of taking part in May's council elections '“ this means about 6,750 people around Bognor out of an electorate of some 57,000 strong.

The proportion of those who will be putting their X on the ballot sheet from the comfort of their armchairs is expected to rise even further by the May 3 local election day.

This could see as many as half of the electors who vote doing so by post. Typical turnouts in local elections are around 25-30 per cent of the electorate.

Voters in one Bognor residential home are eagerly looking forward to playing their part in democracy by post.

The 41 residents of Greenways Methodist Home for the Aged in Hawthorn Road range in age from 85 up to nearly 103.

Sheila Puttick, its assistant home manager, said: 'The majority of our residents who vote do it by post. The forms come through and we put them back in the post for them after they have voted.

'Many of them take a keen interest in current affairs and watch the news on television and read the newspapers.'

All 56 seats on Conservative-run Arun District Council are up for grabs in the polling along with the 16 seats on Bognor Regis Town Council after four years of Liberal Democrat rule since the last elections.

Every parish councillor also has to put themselves forward for another term of office if they want to continue. Some parishes will have contests to fill the vacancies. Others will see the existing councillors automatically renew their roles because of a lack of candidates.

Liz Futcher, Arun's head of democratic services, said the number of postal votes requested kept rising.

Around the district, they had gone up from just over 5,000 three years ago to 9,500 in 2005 and the current 13,500 out of 115,000 electors. She expected the total to rise further by the 5pm deadline on April 18 for registering to vote by post.

'I think the reasons for the rise in postal voting include the fact that the Arun district has a high number of elderly residents, who find it easier to vote from home rather than go to a polling station,' she explained.

'There might also be a far greater number of people who work some distance from where they live and it's not convenient for them to vote in person.'

There had also been more national publicity in recent years about postal voting to raise peoples' awareness of the issue.

Mrs Futcher said the district council would check every postal vote to make sure it was genuine.

Electors were asked to provide their date of birth and signature when they registered for a postal vote and when they visited. These proofs of identity would be checked electronically when each vote was counted.

'That will enable us to have 100 per cent checking of votes, whereas the law says we only need 20 per cent to guard against fraud,' she added.

Another break from tradition will see the votes left uncounted until the next morning. Extended polling hours '“ between 7am and 10pm '“ and the need to ensure the vote checkers are fresh for the counting mean the end of the usual late-night marathon counting session. The count will still take place at the Arun Leisure Centre in Felpham.