Conservatives Abroad rep blames councils 'ineptitude' for overseas postal vote delays
ITV Channel reporter Tim Backshall looks at the delays in overseas voters receiving their postal ballots
A representative for Conservatives Abroad has hit out at "the administrative ineptitude of electoral returning officers" for delays in overseas voters receiving their postal ballots.
Robert McDowall is the regional coordinator for the Channel Islands where just under a third of the population is now eligible to take part in the UK General Election following changes to British law.
A 15-year time limit on British Citizens abroad being able to vote in their former constituency has now been scrapped - meaning those registered can vote for life in General Elections.
That has seen the number of expats able to cast their ballot increase dramatically from around one million to more than three million.
But while people in the UK will be heading to the polls on Thursday 4 July, those overseas have to rely on postal ballots or a proxy - where someone in the UK votes on their behalf.
However, many in the Channel Islands are still waiting for their ballot to arrive and with the loss of Jersey's mail plane, its postal service says it can only guarantee the vote will get back by boat in time to be counted if it is sent by Friday 28 June.
Mr McDowall says the delays are "extremely disappointing".
He adds: "Candidly it's down to the administrative ineptitude of the electoral returning officers in the individual constituencies.
"Someone who lives in Alderney had a call from their electoral returning officer's unit and this poor lady let her heart out that there were six of them having to deal with 6,000 postal votes.
"It's not working well at all and whichever government is in, I think it's one of the technical post-mortem issues that has to be dealt with."
Clara Slee is a British Citizen living in Jersey and has not yet received her postal vote.
She says: "I received the approval of my postal application two days ago and that was dated 12 June so took about 13 days to arrive but I am still waiting for the ballot.
"It is frustrating and concerning because even if it does arrive in the next few days, I'm not sure it's going to arrive back in time to then be counted for the vote."
The Electoral Commission explains: "Anyone who applied before the deadline on Wednesday 19 June and had their application approved should soon receive their ballot pack through the post. Local authorities are working to get these out to postal voters as quickly as possible."
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