Authorities say 'confusing' forms will not affect voting

Information desks and helplines have been set up by authorities to deal with expected inquiries from voters unused to the new system.

But despite receiving hundreds of calls in the first 36 hours after the forms were delivered, town hall bosses last night said things were running smoothly.

The postal voting packs in most areas contain two envelopes, a ballot paper that has to be torn in four and a double-sided sheet of instructions.

Unlike traditional polling booth voting cards, part of the postal ballot form has to be witnessed by someone who knows the voter.

Most of the calls to the helpdesks are said to be from people asking if the witness can be a relative. The answer is yes.

Staff from the information desks can also act as witnesses if voters do not know anyone who will counter-sign their form.

In some areas, such as Hartlepool and parts of Harrogate Borough Council, in North Yorkshire, electors will also vote for local councillors.

The freepost forms can be returned any time from now, but people are being urged to post them by June 8 to make sure they arrive at council offices by the deadline of 10pm on Thursday, June 10. They can be handed in at councils if the June 8 postal date is missed.

Meanwhile, thousands of voters in the region are still waiting for their ballot papers.

The delays have prompted fears that the elections throughout the North-East and North Yorkshire might have to be postponed.

But last night, the Government dismissed suggestions the problems could jeopardise the polls, and said the hitches were no more than normal difficulties.

The concerns surround four regions -the North-East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West, and East Midlands -where all-postal voting is being trialled in an attempt to increase turnout.

Ballot packs for the polls have to be with the Royal Mail by June 1 for distribution to households, but many have not yet been received by town halls.

More than a third of the councils involved are still having packs printed, and opposition parties have seized on the problems as evidence that the Government should have heeded the Electoral Commission's advice for a smaller-scale pilot.

Altogether, 49 out of 127 councils taking part in the pilots were still in the process of printing, with the worst-hit area being the East Midlands, where less than half of authorities had delivered the ballot packs to the Royal Mail so far.

In the North-East, 19 out of 23 councils have sent packs out; 18 out of 21 have in Yorkshire and the Humber; and in the North West, 28 of 43 have.

Newcastle, Gateshead, South Tyneside and North Tyneside, with a combined electorate of more than 500,000, are those suffering printing problems, but they hope to have them resolved by next week.

A Hartlepool Borough Council spokesman said: "The majority of calls to our helpline were people just checking that they were following the procedures correctly.

"We do not anticipate any major problems."

Concern had earlier been expressed by the North-East Pensioners' Association, which said elderly people living alone were baffled by the forms.

Secretary John Berry, 70, said: "Elderly people do not have people to tell them how to do the form or sign as a witness if they live alone.

"It is older people who cast their vote much more than younger people."

* Neil Herron is standing as in independent candidate in the elections for the European Parliament in the North-East region, and not as a candidate for the UK Independence Party, as we published yesterday. We apologise for the error.

Who is standing for seats in the region?

NORTH-EAST

British National Party: Alan Herbert Patterson, Andrew Philip Harris, Jenifer Joyce Agnew.

Conservative: Martin John Callanan, Jeremy Peter Middleton, Amanda Adele Vigar.

Green Party: Pamela Jane Woolner, Nicholas Francis Best, Judith Marie Brennan

Independent: Neil Herron

Labour: Stephen Skipsey Hughes, Barbara Maria O'Toole, Joanne Thompson

Liberal Domocrats: Fiona Jane Hall, Chris Foote-Wood, Gregory Martin Stone

Respect - The Unity Coalition: Yvonne Anne Ridley, Yunus Majid Bakhsh, David Scott Stewart

United Kingdom Independence Party: Piers Rolf Garfield Merchant, Charlotte Elizabeth Bull, Valerie Lillian Cowell

YORKSHIRE AND

HUMBER

Alliance for Green Socialism: Michael Francis Davies, Azar Iqbal, Juliet Marie Boddington, Celia Elizabeth Foote, Jeannie Sutton, Steven James Radford

British National Party: Nicholas Cass, Christopher James Beverley, John Richard Brayshaw, John Aveyard, Paul Gregory Smith Cromie, Dianne Mary Carr

Conservative and Unionist Party: Timothy John Robert Kirkhope, Edward Hugh Christian McMillan-Scott, Mohammed Riaz, Kenneth Neilson, Ian Cameron Bruce, Carolyn Abbott

English Democrats Party: Gary Alan Cowd, Stephen Edward Elliott, Derek John Smith, Nicholas Ian Booth

Green Party: Mark Hill, Linda Shirley Duckenfield, John Lydon Phillips, Jonathan Mark Dixon, John Norris, James Edward Russell

Labour: Linda McAvan, Richard Graham Corbett, David Robert Bowe, Patricia Ann Sutcliffe, Christopher David Naylor, Jo-Anna Catherine Coles

Liberal Domocrats: Diana Paulette Wallis, Julia Mary Gash, Stewart David Arnold, Robert Moray Adamson, Colin Arthur Ross, Zulfiqar Ali

Respect - The Unity Coalition: Anas Osama, Mobeen Azhar, Susan Wild, Janet Christine Alder, Katherine Lucy Owen, Christopher Leslie Cheetham

United Kingdom Independence Party: Godfrey William Bloom, Jonathan William Arnott, John David Nunn, John Richard Walker, David Sewards, Ann Dorothy Schwab

Robert William Ellis: Robert William Ellis

SEVEN councils in the region are also holding local elections next month.

Voters in Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead, Hartlepool, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, will go to the polls on June 10.

Every seat on the councils on Tyneside, Wearside and in Hartlepool will be up for grabs following Boundary Commission changes to wards.

In Harrogate, 16 seats in the rural wards of the borough council's area will be contested.

GATESHEAD: Full council

(66 seats)

HARROGATE: Third of council (16 seats)

HARTLEPOOL: Full council

(47 seats)

NEWCASTLE: Full council

(78 seats)

NORTH TYNESIDE: Full council (60 seats)

SOUTH TYNESIDE: Full council (54 seats)

SUNDERLAND: Full council (75 seats