Students denied general election vote

At least a dozen students were not allowed to vote in the General Election in May, despite believing that they had registered.

Problems occurred due to Warwick University being split into two constituencies, Coventry South and Warwickshire North, and some students attempting to register in the wrong ward.

Several students were unaware that anything had gone wrong with their application, so they turned up to the polling station expecting to vote. However, they were turned away as their names were not on the electoral roll.

Simon Collier, a postgraduate Classics and Ancient History student, was one of those who found out on the day that he was not registered. He decided to gather similar fellow students’ experiences, in an attempt to hold both Warwick and Coventry councils to account and understand what had happened.

He has since been working closely with Rob Ankcorn, the democracy and development officer at Warwick SU, to contact the councils and resolve the issues.

Mr Collier said: “I had registered to vote on April 13, a week before the deadline, as a resident of Heronbank … I received a confirmation email that my application had been received from both Coventry City Council … I did not receive any further communication after this.

“Upon going to vote at Cryfield Pavilion at around 6pm, I was not found on the list. I went over to Ramphal building where Coventry South constituents could vote. I was not on this list either.

“I am angry, very angry, at not being able to vote in this election due to the incompetence at Coventry City Council. While I was in Ramphal building, I must have seen at least 10 separate people have similar problems to me.”

However, according to Coventry District Council “all registrations received by Coventry that were actually for Warwick District Council were sent to them.”

Coventry Council also stated: “Warwick District Council contacted all the students whose details we sent to them.

“We have also submitted information to the Government website detailing which properties fall within each authority area to try and get the applications to the correct authority first time.”

Rob Ankcorn said: “I don’t think, in this instance, the councils could have done more. I think they did an incredibly good job in the circumstances. That said, lessons will be learned and hopefully next year these problems will be ironed out.”

Mr Ankcorn believed that the issue was with the new system of registering rather than with the council. He said: “I’ve got no doubt that the big problem here is the government’s rushed implementation of a voter registration system that had not been thought through.

“Why they would implement a new system that makes it harder and more complicated for students to register prior to a General Election is at best inexplicable and at worst ideologically motivated.”