Over 6,000 Votes Missed in Putney Election Result Declaration

Council apologises for 'spreadsheet error' which did not affect outcome


About 13% of votes cast were missed. Picture: Wandsworth Council

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July 18, 2024

It has emerged that the result declared for the Putney constituency in the General Election did not include 6,558 votes cast.

Wandsworth Council said that the error, which missed 13% of electors in the original announcement by Acting Returning Officer Sana Jafri, was due to a ‘spreadsheet issue’. Adding back the excluded votes made no difference to the order the candidates finished and little difference to the overall vote share.

The corrected result shows that the percentage lead that Labour’s Fleur Anderson had over the Conservative candidate Lee Roberts was reduced but the numerical size of her majority was increased from 10,011 to 12,488. The inclusion of the missed ballots meant that Ms Anderson increased the number of votes she received compared with 2019 despite an overall fall in turnout from 77% to 68%

The council updated the figures on its web site without making an announcement this Wednesday (17 July) and said, “While we are confident this was an isolated incident, we are taking this opportunity to review processes with a particular focus on spreadsheet procedures.”

Actual Putney Constituency General Election Result - 4 July 2024
Party Candidates Votes
%
±%

Labour

Fleur Anderson

24,113

48.9

+4.6

Conservative

Lee Roberts

11,625

23.6

−12.8

Liberal Democrats

Kieren McCarthy

5,943

12.1

−4.8

Green

Fergal McEntee

3,721

7.5

+5.2

Reform UK

Peter Hunter

3,070

6.2

+6.1

Workers Party

Heiko Khoo

491

1.0

N/A

Rejoin EU

Felix Burford-Connole

332

0.7

N/A

Majority  
12,488
 
Votes cast and turnout  
49,295
67.9
 

The change was spotted by Conservative councillors who were angered by the refusal of the chair of the borough scrutiny committee to discuss the matter on Wednesday night.

Incorrect Putney Constituency General Election Originally Result Announced
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Fleur Anderson 20,952 49.0 4.7
Conservative Lee Roberts 10,011 23.4 -13.0
Liberal Democrats Kieren McCarthy 5,189 12.1 -4.8
Green Fergal McEntee 3,182 7.4 5.1
Reform UK Peter Hunter 2681 6.3 6.3
Workers Party Heiko Bernard Khoo 433 1.0 1.0
Rejoin EU Felix Burford-Connole 289 0.7 0.7
Total Votes 42,737
Turnout 58.9%

Cllr Aled Richard-Jones, the Tory opposition leader, said, “In any democracy, people need to have confidence their votes will be counted.

“Wandsworth residents deserve urgent clarification about how an error of this magnitude could have occurred, why it wasn’t detected at the time and the steps the council is taking to ensure this can never happen again. Above all, the secrecy surrounding this needs to stop, and the council needs to explain itself.”

Ms Anderson, said, “I have been informed that the declaration of result for Putney at the general election has been updated after a clerical error came to light. I have been informed of the reasons for these errors in the process.”

A spokesman for Wandsworth Council said, “The acting returning officer has apologised to all candidates and agents.”

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