Students Not Allowed to Vote in Liverpool
Written by Anthony Halewood
Students in Liverpool Wavertree were prevented from voting in the local and general elections, after ballot papers ran out across the constituency.

Polling stations were apparently overwhelmed by the ‘astronomical’ turn out, jumping from 50.8% in 2005 to just over 60%. Ballot papers ran out in at least four polling stations in the area, with many running out of both Local and General Election ballot papers.

Liverpool Wavertree was won by Luciana Berger of Labour in the General Election, with a majority of 7,176. Colin Eldridge of the Liberal Democrats, her closest competition said last night before the results were announced, "This is a total fiasco. I am aware of three or four polling stations that ran out of ballot papers.

"They are in our strongest areas. There may be grounds for a legal challenge because if the result is close this changes everything.
"I would have thought we would have a case to have the election declared void and re-run at a future date.” However he conceded defeat once the result was announced just before 6am.

It is unknown how many voters in this key student constituency were not allowed to vote, but it isn’t thought to have run into the thousands necessary to overturn Labour’s victory.

The news comes at the same time as reports of voting irregularities in other key student dominated constituencies, such as Manchester Withington, Hackney South and Shoreditch, the City of Chester and Sheffield Hallam, Nick Cleggs seat, where students were segregated from other voters, and processed more slowly. This led to many students being turned away and not allowed to vote when the ballot boxes closed at 10pm.

Wes Streeting of the NUS said, “Where students and other voters have been disenfranchised, local authorities should hang their heads in shame. It is outrageous that citizens should be denied their basic right to vote and we demand inquiry into how this situation occurred.
“We are alarmed by reports that students were placed in a separate, slower queue. Students’ unions have worked tirelessly to reverse the trend of low voter turnout amongst students and other young people. What message does this send to first time voters whose votes will not be counted?"

The electoral commission has announced an inquiry into the affair, which a spokesperson described as a “cause for serious concern”. They urged anyone who was unable to vote in the election to contact them.

If you have been affected by the shortage of ballot papers in Liverpool Riverside, or elsewhere, leave your story in the comments section, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it