OXFORD City Council is due to begin sending out polling cards to voters this weekend ahead of May’s local elections.

And it has reassured the public it has learned from the blunders of last year.

Last August, the Electoral Commission reprimanded the authority after electoral services manager Martin John left 200 polling cards for last year’s county council elections in a skip.

Last month it also emerged that 50 registration forms issued to residents to vote in this year’s city council elections had also been misdelivered.

The council received four official complaints about wrongly delivered forms, which are used to add residents to the city’s electoral roll.

Lilian Sherwood, a former city and county council candidate for the Green party, said eight registration forms were mis-delivered on her street in Fox Crescent, South Oxford.

Ms Sherwood, 60, who received the registration form for her neighbour, said: “I was amazed at such incompetence. It’s very concerning.”

Ms Sherwood, whose son Chip is a Green city and county councillor, added: “I’m worried that some cards could find their way into the wrong hands.”

Her neighbour Lynn Carter, 50, who has lived in Fox Crescent, for 20 years did not receive her electoral registration form at all.

She said: “Someone hasn’t done their job properly and shouldn’t be paid if they don’t do their job properly.”

The council admitted there was an issue with a new canvasser misdelivering eight forms in the road.

The canvasser has since had payment for those properties deducted from his fee.

Putting the figures into perspective, the council said the misdeliveries equated to just 0.06 per cent of the 81,000 forms handed out last year, although it said it had reiterated to canvassers the need for accurate deliveries.

Speaking about the delivery of the registration forms, council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “It was a complex project involving 60 people delivering many thousands of forms.

“The vast majority are delivered correctly, with less that 0.06 per cent misdelivered, less than the latest figures on mis-deliveries from Royal Mail.

“The need for accurate delivery is stressed both at the new canvasser training and in the detailed instructions given to all canvassers.”

  • If the Government calls the forthcoming General Election for the same day – as is widely expected – the council hopes to use the same voting cards to keep costs down.