Councils admit failure to send out EU postal ballots in time

At least three local councils across England and Wales have admitted that they ran out of time to print and send postal ballots for the European elections to some overseas voters, leaving them effectively disenfranchised. Three voters contacted the Guardian with details of papers that arrived so late it was impossible to get their vote back to the UK in time, some landing only on polling day. There had already been complaints ahead of the election about missing or late ballots. Local councils told these voters that arrangements were affected by an extremely compressed schedule. The government had hoped to avoid holding the elections by getting a Brexit deal through parliament.