Postal ballots: Vote losses may spark challenge in courts

The Yorkshire Post has received calls from voters in Leeds, York and Skipton who said they did not get their papers and claimed that call centre staff told them hundreds more had been affected.

In York, it is understood the problems were so severe there could be legal challenges to the result in the marginal York Outer seat.

The region's councils have refused to say how many complaints they have received, but said contingency measures were in place if there were problems.

Emma Grunwell, from Leeds, said she was unable to vote in the key battleground seat of Elmet and Rothwell.

The mother-of-two said: "It was extremely frustrating, my husband got his but mine never came.

"When I called the day before the election, not only was I told that I was one of many that had complained, but they said to get the papers I had to go into Leeds city centre.

"The whole point of postal votes is for people who have mobility problems or, like me, may have childcare issues and cannot get away to vote – if I was able at short notice to go into Leeds city centre then I could just go to my local polling station."

In York, Kath Lettice said her 84-year old father was among those whose votes have been lost.

More than 600,000 people are registered to vote by post in the region, 100,000 more than in 2005.

City of York Council chief executive Kersten England said the authority had an 80 per cent return rate for the 17,000 postal votes they issued.

"This suggests that the postal votes have reached those who applied for them," she said.

A Leeds City Council spokeswoman said: "Almost 200,000 postal votes were issued to the Royal Mail on time.

"If people did not receive a vote, they had until 5pm on polling day to get a replacement."