Scottish council elections: Recount ordered after council ballots overlooked

ELECTION officials are to recount the votes in a Glasgow City Council ward after some ballot papers were not tallied in a contest that saw three councillors elected.

The returning officer for Glasgow has informed the three – from Labour, SNP and the Greens – that some of the 385 ballot papers were not properly entered into the count, despite being registered and scanned.

Officials insisted the election of SNP councillor Susan Aitken and Labour’s Archie Graham in the Langside ward would not have been affected by the uncounted ballot papers but said the return of the third member – Scottish Green Liam Hainey – could theoretically have been different.

However, returning officer George Black said the voting pattern in the ballot box that was not counted would have to have “differed substantially” from the rest of the ward to alter the outcome of the poll.

He has now met the three councillors to discuss the issue, as well as writing to the defeated candidates in the ward about the mistake.

He said: “It is my intention to enter those ballot papers into the system and rerun the calculation to ensure that the result is accurate.”