The Scottish Parliament’s Local Government Committee has called for a study of the number of incorrectly marked ballots in last year’s local government elections in order to improve the running of future elections.

The Committee wants to know how many voters marked their paper with an ‘x’ as required in a first past the post, rather than numbering candidates according to preference as used in the Single Transferable Vote system first used in 2007.

Committee Convener Duncan McNeil said:

“The committee is concerned that the system of numbering preferences required by the Single Transferable Vote (STV) in the local government elections of 2007 was not the success it has been claimed. While the rate of rejected ballots was lower than that of the Scottish Parliament elections, it was still unnecessarily high. There were also issues around ballot design, electronic counting and the fact that the elections took place on the same day as the Scottish Parliament's ‘first past the post’ elections.

“To restore public faith in the electoral process, the committee also recommend establishing a chief returning officer for Scotland, a decoupling of local government elections from national elections and effective voter education and engagement. In essence, the committee’s report sets out how those responsible for administering local government elections can ensure that the people of Scotland have confidence that a vote cast is a vote counted.”