KCC/European elections -overnight count / pencil

S Davis (Account suspended) made this Freedom of Information request to Kent County Council

The request was refused by Kent County Council.

From: S Davis (Account suspended)

5 June 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Freedom of Information request - KCC/European elections - overnight
count/ in pencil

Please can you clarify if it is correct that the Public are
supposed to use the pencil supplied when marking their ballot paper
with a X.

It appears that this could easily be changed, especially as
the ballot paper are stored overnight and not counted till the next
day.

What is to stop foul play by local authorities changing these to
suit.

Yours faithfully,

S Davis

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Alex Skene left an annotation ( 5 June 2009)

Local electoral officers are not officially covered by the FOI Act

http://foiwiki.com/foiwiki/index.php/Org...

The Electoral Commission might be a better authority ot ask for this information. I think you can use what ever you want to make your "mark" on the ballot paper - there's no related voting offence listed in the Representation of the People Act.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/elect...

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Dawn left an annotation ( 5 June 2009)

Also although the elections are for County Councillors, the County Council is not responsible for the electoral role, or managing elections, so you should really address your request to the district/borough councils in Kent. Looking at all the other requests you and S Smith have made, it would seem that the pair of you have some sort of grievance against Kent County Council as even when they have given you the information you have asked for, you have requested an internal review. I'm no expert but I thought FOIA was a right of access to information held; FOIA is not the appropriate mechanism to challenge policies or how the Council operates and if you have a genuine complaint against the Council, why don't you complain to the Local Government Ombudsman?

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S Davis (Account suspended) left an annotation ( 5 June 2009)

Alex Skene thank you for your comment, which is very useful.

It will be interesting to see if KCC will answer such obvious persona's such as Dawn/Madge, both of whom seem to have joined today and sound exactly like they could be from the authorities and joined at the hip.

I can only speak for myself, there is no grudge against anybody, just an interest in finding out the 'truth' about information held by the authorities, which is deemed to be in the 'best' interests of the public.

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Dawn left an annotation ( 5 June 2009)

Not that it is anyone's business, but I don't work for a council. Goodness knows who "Madge" is but surely she's entitled to her opinion too? I wholeheartedly agree that Councils should be open and transparent and I am also sure that like Central Government, they probably only publish what they want us to know. But, as a taxpayer, I am also keen to ensure that my money is not wasted. All I am saying is that sending requests to the INCORRECT public authority, is a waste of the sender's time, the receiving authority's resources and consequently my money which could be better spent on improving the condition of the roads near where I live! If there is some conspiracy or cover up going on, I can't see an FOI request will bring this information out in the open (without the intervention of the Information Commissioner) as Councils will simply refuse to provide it or deny they have it.

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V. Bennett left an annotation ( 5 June 2009)

It is entirely correct and proper that people should be able to ask questions, and when those questions are not answered satisfactorily, to request an internal review.
I find it very interesting indeed that "Dawn" has made no actual FOI requests, merely annotations.

V. Bennett

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Kent County Council

24 June 2009

Dear S Davis

Thank you for your email

In our 22nd May response to a previous request of yours (Independent
Candidate Maidstone South /Conservative Party Member), we advised you that
the election process is managed and administered by the District Councils
in Kent not Kent County Council, irrespective of what the elections are
for, and that you should approach them for information on this subject as
we do not hold it. Given that you are ignoring this advice, and are
submitting a request to Kent County Council regardless, the Council is of
the opinion that this latest communication, when considered in conjunction
with all the other requests you have submitted, is a deliberate attempt to
disrupt the Council's operations and is therefore manifestly unreasonable.
The Council has no obligation to respond to requests that are perceived to
be either vexatious or repeated under section 14 (1) & (2) of the Freedom
of Information Act respectively and collectively, your requests fall into
this category. The Council will review this position in three months time
but until then, no further requests from you will be considered.

If you disagree with this stance, you can appeal direct the Information
Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the Freedom of Information Act
2000. This is because there is no-one sufficiently senior within the
Authority that could conduct an independent internal review of this
decision which was made at the highest level. Details of what you need to
do, should you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from
the Information Commissioner's
website. [1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Best regards

Caroline Dodge
Corporate Access to Information Coordinator, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 221652 - Fax: 01622 694383
[2]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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Things to do with this request

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