Wandsworth Council responds to Independent Review of Putney General Election count  

The review was conducted at the request of the council by Andrew Maughan, Borough Solicitor for Camden and an experienced elections returning officer, and follows a spreadsheet tallying error identified after the declaration of the results. Although all votes were properly counted and the error did not affect the election outcome or the order of candidates, wrong results were declared on the night. This was a significant oversight.

The issue came to light on 16 July 2024, when a party agent raised concerns over discrepancies in voter turnout percentages. An internal investigation quickly revealed that a spreadsheet formula error led to the incorrect tallying of votes reported for the Putney constituency.

In reporting the Independent Review to the General Purposes Committee,officers of the council fully accept the recommendations. Officers have acknowledged the issues that led to the error, repeated their apology for the error and re-affirmed their commitment to make the necessary changes to maintain confidence in the election process.

Mike Jackson, Chief Executive of Wandsworth Council, said: “As Acting Returning Officer, I fully accept the recommendations arising from the independent review into the Putney General Election count and acknowledge the need for improvements. While the error did not affect the overall result, it is essential we address the issues identified to ensure such mistakes do not happen again.

“Many of the recommendations from the Independent Review align with the actions we had agreed to put in place following our own review , including enhanced checks and further verification of election processes. I am confident these steps will strengthen the robustness of our future elections, and I thank everyone involved in the review for their thorough work.”

Councillor Rex Osborn, Chair of the General Purposes Committee was keen to ensure the error was thoroughly investigated and therefore welcomes the Independent Review. Mr Maughan’s report has now been published and its recommendations will be discussed at the General Purposes Committee meeting on 4 October 2024.

Councillor Osborn said: “It is critical that we learn from what went wrong. Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy and even though every vote was properly counted, any error in reporting them can undermine public trust.

“While the overall outcome was unaffected, this should never have happened, and we are committed to learning lessons. I’m pleased that officers have accepted the outcomes of the review and apologised, and I look forward to discussing it further with the committee where I will be commending the recommendations to them”

You can read the full report here.