Postal vote error leaves 1,300 people without ballot papers ahead of Senedd election

More than 1,300 applicants for postal votes have not received their ballot papers ahead of election for the Welsh Parliament on Thursday, a council has said.

Royal Mail said the missing postal votes in Cardiff had not been printed and were never handed over to them to be delivered.

Cardiff council said its "immediate priority" was to ensure voters in the constituencies of Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf and Caerdydd Penarth were able to "exercise their democratic right".

Replacement ballot packs have been hand-delivered, with a small number sent via priority mail where appropriate.

One of the people affected was Super Furry Animals' frontman Gruff Rhys who described it as a "fiasco" and said it was "disappointing" that he would probably not get his postal vote in time before going on tour.

"I know many others in the same situation. At worst in a tight election it could even tip the balance of power," said the Cardiff-based musician on Instagram.

Previously, Cardiff council said it had issued almost 47,000 postal vote packs and more than 26,500 had already been returned.

It explained it was "working urgently to investigate the issue", adding it had "received assurances" from its print provider, Civica, that the relevant data was received correctly from the council and that the packs were printed and dispatched to Royal Mail".

However, a Royal Mail spokesperson said the council later confirmed the affected ballot papers "were not printed and, as such, were never handed over to Royal Mail for delivery".

"All ballot packs received by Royal Mail in the area have been processed and delivered as expected," it added.

Civica has been approached for comment.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Cardiff council said: "Following further discussions with the local authority's contracted print provider, it has been confirmed that, while the relevant data was received from the council, the print run for the supplementary voting packs scheduled for last week did not fully take place.

"Initially this resulted in 1,388 packs not being delivered to electors in Cardiff, in the Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf and Caerdydd Penarth constituencies," it explained.

"Our immediate priority is to enable members of the electorate affected by the issue with the supplementary voter pack print run to exercise their democratic right."

The council said: "Working closely with our contracted print provider, postal vote packs for the affected addresses have since been supplied directly to the local authority, and they have been hand delivered by Cardiff council staff - with a small number issued by priority mail where appropriate."

Voters affected can still return a completed postal vote pack to any polling station or to County Hall before 22:00 BST on Thursday.

But voters who are unable to return to Cardiff until after the election will have no means of voting, with the council confirming that "unfortunately, for those now away from home, there is no provision at this stage to cancel an existing postal vote arrangement in order to apply for an emergency proxy".

A new voting system for Wales will see six candidates elected in each of the 16 new constituencies, and there are potential scenarios where the gap between winning the fifth and sixth seat could be very close.

It is not know how many people have been unable to vote because of this issue, but a small number of votes could prove to be important when the results of the Senedd election are counted on Friday.

The Electoral Commission told the BBC it did not believe delays with postal votes were Wales-wide, and that affected voters in Cardiff should follow the council's advice.

Following the election, it said it would "prepare a statutory report on all aspects of the Senedd election, including monitoring returning officer performance and making any necessary recommendations to the Welsh government".

"The administration of postal voting is one of the areas we will consider, and we will seek views from all related parties as part of this process," it added.

Previously, the Liberal Democrats said they had spoken to a number of people affected in the Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf constituency, adding "the system has let them down".

Plaid Cymru said the situation was "extremely worrying" and urged "anyone who has not received their postal vote pack to contact their local council immediately".

Welsh Labour said the situation was "very concerning" adding that the council must ensure "[the postal ballots] are returned in good time to be counted".

The Welsh Conservatives said "the failure to ensure that all the postal votes were delivered is deeply concerning".

Reform dubbed the matter "completely unacceptable" adding that "people who have postal votes should not be disenfranchised".

The Green said the issue was "deeply worrying and lessons will need to learned about how this happened".