Swindon law firm wins High Court battle over Highworth ballot count mistake

An election result which saw the wrong person elected as a councillor has been overturned by the High Court, after Swindon-based law firm Francis George Solicitor-Advocate lodged for an electoral petition on behalf of independent candidate Ken Smith.

Highworth has less than 7,000 registered voters, but it appeared that more than 40,000 ballots were counted after the town council election in May 2019.

Mr Smith argued block votes cast in favour of all the Conservative candidates had been counted for each of them, rather than split between them.

The mistake led to conservative candidate Pauline Webster being wrongly elected. As a result of the recount, Ms Webster, who received 727 votes, has had to make way for independent candidate Kim Barber, who received 863 votes.

“The firm was instructed following an error at an election on 2 May 2019. As a result, it transpired that a candidate was elected in error whereas another candidate who should have been elected was not,” said Francis George, senior partner at the firm.

The firm had to act quickly given the deadline to file a petition within 21 days from the date of the election. Francis George Solicitor-Advocate was selected by the Petitioner as a direct result of their Higher Rights of Audience accreditation. The firm therefore conducted the matter from start to finish without the need to instruct counsel.

“We made the necessary applications on time which involved filing the petition, the application to fix the amount of security for costs and for the receipt of the payment. At each stage, we were required to serve all 21 Respondents.

“In an effort to resolve the matter quickly, an agreed application was made to the County Court for a recount to take place. It was at that hearing that the true results were revealed by the District Judge. However, the County Court does not have the jurisdiction to rectify the situation. That power is reserved to the High Court,” said Francis.

Francis attended the hearing on September 6 at the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court.

Having liaised with both the solicitor and counsel for the returning officer, he appeared before the Honourable Mr Justice Knowles and the Honourable Mr Justice Superstone.

Francis presented the agreed Special Case under the Representation of the People Act 1983, which was approved and included an order for costs.