THE council has defended its record on election night after it did not finish counting votes until 12.45pm – putting it in the slowest one per cent of councils.


Cotswold District Council (CDC) had originally estimated a 4.30am finish but the results were eventually declared at 12.45am.


Candidates and their supporters began arriving after 10pm when voting finished but as the night wore on the finish time was pushed further and further back.


CDC blamed the size of constituency, the high number of postal votes and having to sort through parliamentary, district and town/parish council elections for the late finish.


Many other constituencies had to vie with the same problems and still finished at their estimated time.
CDC also knew the size of the constituency and approximately how many votes they would need to count long before May 7.
Although turnout is high in the Cotswolds it only increased one per cent from the last general election.


Acting returning officer Nigel Adams said that the verification - where all ballot papers are checked and totalled - took a lot of time as each ballot box was double counted.


He said: “Most important was to ensure that the verification and count were transparent and robust, and led to a result with which I and all those involved could be confident.


“I firmly believe that this was the case.


“As with all elections, we will review the entire process, to identify where things might be improved for the future.”


As the count dragged on to the morning, tired counters were replaced. At 9am, staff from CDC were told that if their work was not necessary they were to come in and help out.


Mr Adams said: “Overall, the count was considered a success - around 70 staff worked professionally, calmly and tirelessly throughout the night, and beyond, to ensure that the Cotswolds produced an accurate, reliable election result; and the MP, other candidates and agents, and many of the others who had been present, congratulated and thanked the election team for such a sterling effort.”


Cllr Paul Hodgkinson was the Lib Dem candidate for the Cotswolds constituency.


He said: "I couldn't believe how long the count took.


"I arrived at 10.45pm and didn't leave until 1pm the next day. It took 14 and a half hours to count. We were originally told the declaration would be known at 4am, this then changed to 6am, 8am, 11am and finally 1pm.


"When the outcome was clear cut the result should have been known far earlier.


"It was known in advance that there would be up to 3 ballot papers to count for the different elections but why couldn't each ballot paper be put into separate ballot boxes to make the counting easier?


"I will be writing formally to the CEO of CDC to ask why the count took long and for lessons to be learnt for the future."