Average cost per vote at PCC election £13.01 (From Kidderminster Shuttle)
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Average cost per vote at PCC election £13.01
7:50am Friday 1st March 2013 in Local
By William Tomaney
THE controversial Police and Crime Commissioner elections cost Wyre Forest District Council more than £50 a vote at one polling station, it has been revealed.
A report by Wyre Forest returning officer Ian Miller shows the average cost per vote across the district’s 39 stations was £13.01 during last November’s elections, which saw a record low turnout of just 12.5 per cent when independent candidate Bill Longmore was elected.
Wyre Forest’s most embarrassing figures came from the Pound Green and Button Oak polling station at Community Hall, Pound Green, which saw six per cent of electors cast their vote. The cost per vote was £51.47.
At The Y Centre, Dowles Road, Kidderminster, where the turnout was three per cent, the cost per vote was £29.30 and at St Peter’s Church Hall, Birchen Coppice, which also had a three per cent turnout, the cost per vote was £22.84.
The report provides the costs for using the polling stations, the delivery of equipment, the poll cards – including print and delivery – and staff and divides that total by the number of votes cast.
The lowest cost per vote figure was £1.42 for postal votes and the lowest at a polling station was Areley Kings Village Hall at £5.94 per vote.
The cost per vote for the district as a whole was £5.40 when postal votes were included.
In the report, Mr Miller said: “The pattern in participation is not unique to Wyre Forest.
“Steps need to be taken to reverse this trend.
Apart from seeking to ensure even higher levels of response to the annual canvass, the Electoral Registration Officer will continue to conduct campaigns to drive up the number of postal voters.”
A study released this week by the Electoral Reform Society revealed just 11 per cent of people across the country could correctly name their police and crime commissioner.
The national turnout in the PCC elections was 15.1 per cent.
