Baffling road-toll vote a shambles, say critics

EDINBURGH’S road tolls referendum was today branded a shambles after hundreds of people phoned the city council’s helpline complaining they were confused by the ballot paper.

Opposition politicians warned the complexity of the voting procedure would reduce the number of people taking part and undermine the credibility of the poll.

The council’s dedicated helpline had 943 calls from exasperated residents between 8am on Monday and 8pm yesterday, with the number expected to pass the 1000 mark today.

And Liberal Democrats voiced concern that many voters would bin the papers because they could not understand what they were meant to do.

Lib Dem councillor Tom Ponton branded the postal vote a "total shambles from start to finish".

He said: "I sat down to fill in mine and found it difficult. It’s unnecessarily complex and I think a lot of older people might have problems completing it. That could lower the turnout."

Calls to the helpline have raised problems ranging from confusion over security precautions to difficulties placing the voting form inside the envelope to post it back.

The ballot paper can be separated into four sections and comes with two envelopes, marked A and B, for return to the local authority. The paper includes a security declaration, which must be signed and returned, and the ballot question itself, which must also be returned.

The two remaining sections must be kept by the voter. One is a copy of the security section, which voters are to keep in case they lose their original ballot paper.

Lib Dem congestion charging spokesman Fred Mackintosh said: "The ballot is confusing and we have asked the council to release a statement telling people how to vote correctly. The turnout could be affected and it also reduces the credibility of the poll. If the scheme was workable, the question would not have to be asked in such a complex way.

"But if a salesman comes to your door and you don’t understand what he’s selling you, you say no. I think that’s what will happen here."

Tory leader Iain Whyte said: "The system is not that much different from a standard postal vote, but it includes an information leaflet which seems to have added to people’s confusion. We have argued all along that the leaflet should not have been included.

Cllr Whyte said it would be "difficult to know" if the problems would affect the overall turnout.

"I hope it wouldn’t make much of a difference and should affect both camps equally. The Colinton council election used a postal ballot and the turnout was around the same as normal."

Transport leader Andrew Burns defended the ballot paper, saying it conformed to all the latest European standards and was identical to the format used in the recent all-postal ballot at the Colinton by-election.

He said the calls received by the helpline represented less than one third of one per cent of the 291,000 ballot papers distributed.

And he added: "The opposition’s constant whingeing about process is a complete smokescreen to hide the fact they have nothing to say about the transport challenges facing the city."

Opponents have criticised the "biased" question in the referendum which asks voters whether they approve of the council’s "preferred" transport strategy. They have complained about the information booklet accompanying the ballot paper, which puts only the case in favour of the tolls.

And they have also hit out at the fact 42,000 people have been excluded from the poll because they failed to re-register.

Ray Perman, the chairman of the Yes to Edinburgh campaign, admitted he had found the forms "very complicated".

He said: "I had to read the information two or three times to check which piece of paper went into which envelope. This will deter people from returning their ballots because it is so complicated.

"People will be put off from voting before they have even got to the end of the process. If this is the shape of things to come, we could see low turnouts in other polls."

A council spokeswoman said: "Staff are available to answer queries about the voting system in the Transport Edinburgh Referendum, and this phone number is printed in the instructions to voters included in the ballot pack. The helpline is open from 8am until 8pm weekdays and 9am to 5pm at the weekend on 0131 529 4877."

Voters have until February 21 to return their ballot papers and the result is expected the next day.