People were turned away from voting in the north London borough of Barnet today after the wrong electoral register lists were printed for polling stations.
BuzzFeed News understands that due to an error, only newly registered voters were listed at the borough's 155 polling stations.
Many voters who arrived when polling stations opened at 7am were initially told they could not vote.
The correct registers were printed and at polling stations by 10am, while earlier advice was to bring polling cards and/or a form of ID.
Please can voters unable to vote this morning return to their polling station later if possible. We apologise for these problems.
Councillor Arjun Mittra said he had seen distraught voters turned away, with one woman crying after being told she could not vote.
He called the situation a “shambles”, saying: “How can you get something as basic as this wrong?"
At one polling station the register list was only six pages long. Usually it should be nearer 40 pages.
Voters in the borough contacted by BuzzFeed News spoke of their frustration at being unable to vote.
Hannah Redman, who works in Westminster for the NHS, turned up to her polling station at Trinity Church on Nether Street, North Finchley, at 7:30am, to find a queue outside. "There were about 15 people in the queue and they were being told by the guy in charge there was a problem with the voting list and only three people in the last half hour had been able to vote," she told BuzzFeed News.
"Only one person in front of me had been able to vote. I was really cross, as I had my polling card with me and I couldn't vote. But my new neighbours were allowed to vote. The people at the polling station didn't know what to do in the situation and all they could suggest was to return later – but I'm not in the position to come back later.”
Redman, who has lived in London for 10 years, said she felt “disenfranchised”.
“I am extremely disappointed,” she said. “What arrangements will they make? They need to extend polling. I feel disenfranchised and I don't get to have a say and the way I would have voted would have gone towards the count. They can't afford to make mistakes when it comes to elections."
Gabriel Rozenberg, a Conservative councillor for Hampstead Garden Suburb in Barnet, said: "The polling situation today in Barnet is totally unacceptable."
He told BuzzFeed News that although he had already sent off his postal vote, he had witnessed first-hand the problems at polling stations and saw residents turned away because they were unable to vote. He said the problems had been borough-wide.
Barnet council said in a statement published at 10:40am on polling day: "All the updated electoral registers are now in place and people can vote as normal. We are advising people who were unable to vote this morning to return again before the polling stations close if at all possible.”
However, Julia Hines, a resident of Barnet, said her two sons were still not on the register as expected when new lists were dropped off at Avenue House polling station.
@ArjunMittra @rozgab The hotline is a maze of recorded messages. Any idea how you speak to a human?
Ian Shapiro, who said he was born and bred in Barnet but has worked overseas, told us he would not be able to return to vote later: "When I got there at 7am I was in a state of disbelief. I work reasonably far away, and when I got to the polling station I was the ninth person in the queue and all nine of us were not on the register. The people at the polling booth couldn't do anything. They asked us to leave."
Shapiro continued: "It's hard enough to get people to vote in the best of times. Elections don't happen all the time, so I'm pretty angry. You make an active choice, you do a decent amount of reading, and it makes me horribly uncomfortable this can happen in 2016. It's pretty strange, though – we have an archaic system."
He said: "Don't know how Barnet can feel this was a free and fair election. If international monitors were here they would see it as unfair."
Alon Or-bach, an East Finchley Labour councillor, said: "I was at Finchley library doing telling – which is making sure our voters have turned out for the party – from 7am, and within a few minutes realised the scale of the problem. Five people I saw had polling cards with them but were rejected as they were not on the list."
The councillor said: "The library called up Barnet electoral registration office, who said in an edict anyone with polling cards should be able to vote and were added onto the register with pencil. But this wasn't the case elsewhere."
He added: “Outside there were several who said they didn't know if they would come back – one said he had a football match so will not be able to do so."
Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, was among those unable to vote this morning.
Or-bach said: "I think the expectation is you can vote with or without a polling card, but if they are turned away they should not be expected to alter their plans. One prominent example is the chief rabbi, who went to vote before he flew to the Netherlands. He's lost his vote. I would be interested to know how this happened. How on earth did this happen? It's a catastrophe."
Lots of us HAVE polling cards AND couldnt vote. 9th in queue. All had polling cards. None on register #LondonVotes https://t.co/leCTt5A3Dz
@SadiqKhan @ZacGoldsmith unable to vote #Barnet #registered voter #notinlist @BarnetCouncil @MPSBarnet
Safe to say Barnet have had an absolute mare today. Thanks to the people in there for still letting me vote. #PollingDay 👍🏻
#PollingDay but due to major admin error in #Barnet I've been turned away and can't vote 😩 Worryingly undemocratic. Get out there people!
Barnet Council cabinet member Cllr Dean Cohen turned away from voting in Golders Green amid voting list errors across borough
London Elects, the independent body in charge of organising elections in the capital, said the results for the mayoral contest would be announced as planned between 6pm and midnight on Friday.
A spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that if anyone wanted to challenge the outcome of the election, they were entitled to launch an election petition in court after the results were announced.
The Electoral Commission has advised anyone who was unable to vote in Barnet on Thursday morning to return to their polling station later before polls close at 10pm.
Voters who are unable to get back to the polling station – because, for example, of a late shift at work – can obtain an emergency proxy form that they must scan and email back by 5pm.
But Mittra said that for many people turned away this morning, that may have been their only available opportunity to vote.
Just when you think @BarnetCouncil can't get any worse. A new low point
Barnet council apologised for the "problems voters have experienced".
A statement issued at 10:40am said: "All the updated electoral registers are now in place and people can vote as normal. We are advising people who were unable to vote this morning to return again before the polling stations close if at all possible."
Other local residents outside one of the polling stations told BuzzFeed News they had heard on the radio the borough was experiencing difficulties.
"I had heard half an hour earlier on the news bulletin there were problems, but when I got here there [were none]. The people inside said Barnet council have apologised – well that's rare," one voter, who gave her name only as Mrs Bronkhorst, said.
Another, Justin Joffrey, joked: "I had no problem at all. It's their fault for getting up so early."
Linda, who didn't give her surname, said she had heard of the issues but "had no problems. If people couldn't vote earlier they may not be able to vote at all – but it's a beautiful day and let's hope the right candidate wins."
UPDATE
Barnet Council announced on Monday that its chief executive Andrew Travers would be leaving "by mutual agreement". The council also confirmed it would be launching an independent investigation – to conclude by the end of May – into why voters were turned away from polling stations.
A spokesman said: “Following the events during the morning of Thursday's elections, it has been decided, by mutual agreement that Andrew Travers, chief executive, will leave the council."
Travers added: "I have enjoyed my time at Barnet and I believe the changes we have put in place and the continued programme of growth and transformation will enable the borough to continue to thrive."
