Chippenham voters were given incorrect ballot papers or turned away at the polls yesterday, it has been alleged.

The electoral commission said it had been made aware of problems and that steps were taken to bring back voters who were affected.

One voter, who wished to remain anonymous said that when they went to vote at the Scout Hut polling station in Audley Road, they received only one ballot paper and not three.

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According to the resident, other registered voters were also getting turned away only to later have cars sent out to their homes to fix the error.

The issue has been reported to Michelle Donelan MP, who has forwarded the concerns of voters to the head of electoral services in Wiltshire to investigate.

Audley Road, Chippenham VIA GOOGLE MAPS

Audley Road, Chippenham VIA GOOGLE MAPS

Mike Rees, the independent Police & Crime Commissioner candidate, said he received “several reports” of issues at the Chippenham, Audley Road polling station.

“I don’t want to make a big issue of this because of the complexities involved and the likelihood of genuine human error, but I would hope that learning could be taken from it for future elections so that no candidate is disadvantaged,” he said.

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A spokesman for the electoral commission said: “We were in contact on polling day with the returning officer at Wiltshire Council once we became aware of a problem regarding the issue of ballot papers at a polling station.”

They said as soon as the returning officer and Wiltshire Council chief executive, Terence Herbert became aware of the problems at the Audley Road polling station steps were taken to contact affected residents and bring them back to vote.

“The staff at the station received additional instruction on the correct issue of ballot papers to electors from the returning officer,” the spokesman added.

Mr Herbert said: “As soon as we became aware of this issue, we deployed additional staff to contact the affected electors to ensure all those who wanted to were able to cast their vote.”