results sheet and ballot data

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to request information about the 2008 elections of the
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH)
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I am only interested in
UCLH elections carried out using the Single Transferable Vote (STV)
and counted using computer software.

Please can you provide me with the following information:

(1) the results sheet for each election carried out during the year
to 31 December 2008

(2) the full ballot data for each election carried out during the
year to 31 December 2008

By full ballot data I mean a table that shows for each vote cast
what the first preference was, what the second preference was (if
any) and so on for all the preferences expressed. I would prefer
this data was provide in CSV format.

The table should of course be provided in such a way as to ensure
it is not possible to identify who a vote belongs to or who voted
in the election. The ballot will remain secret.

I appreciate that you may on receiving this request have some
concerns about data protection. I therefore wish to explain further
why I believe the information should be disclosed.

(a) Glasgow City Council has already published on its website the
full ballot data in respect of the 2007 Local Government Elections
conducted using STV.

Link to a ZIP file:
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4...

This suggests that disclosure of ballot data is felt to be legal by
the City Council.

(b) It will not be possible to identify who a vote belongs to or
who voted in the election so the information should not be regarded
as containing the personal data of individual voters.

(c) Although the ballot data I have requested will contain
information about people's views of individual election candidates
this is not a reason not to disclose as a results sheet would also
contain information about people's views of individual candidates.
STV results sheets have been published for many years by public
authorities e.g. by the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
http://www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk/NR/rdonly...

(d) there is a strong public interest in favour of disclosure as
the data can be used as evidence that the count was correct and to
see a full picture of the votes cast.

If any of the data requested is held by a third party (e.g. a
ballot service provider) please be aware that for the purposes of
the Act, "information is held by a public authority if— ...it is
held by another person on behalf of the authority" [Section 3(2)]

If you have any queries then please contact me.

Yours faithfully,

John Cross

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your response but please could you answer the second
part of my request:

"2) the full ballot data for each election carried out during the
year to 31 December 2008"

"By full ballot data I mean a table that shows for each vote cast
what the first preference was, what the second preference was (if
any) and so on for all the preferences expressed. I would prefer
this data was provide in CSV format."

In my original request I included a link to another public
authority that has published the full ballot data as an example.

regards,

John

Dear Theodora,

Thank you for your help. I think you may have misunderstood the
second part of my request.

In Appendix A Fisher received 25 first preferences but it is not
possible to see who those 25 voters listed as their second
preference for example. It does not therefore contain the full
ballot data.

I will give an example of what full ballot data would contain. In
this simple example there are just three candidates and only five
votes have been cast:

vote 1: (1)John Green, (2)James Brown, (3)Sarah Black
Vote 2: (1)John Green, (2)Sarah Black, (3)James Brown
vote 3: (1)James Brown
vote 4: (1)John Green, (2)James Brown, (3)Sarah Black
vote 5: (1)Sarah Black, (2)James Brown

and so on.

The vote numbering should be in no way traceable to individual
voters.

In my original request I provided a link to the website of a public
authority that has already published the full ballot data for an
STV election.

I would be very grateful if you could provide the full ballot data
as defined in my original request and I hope these examples help
you to do that.

regards,

John

Dear Sirs

I would be grateful if you would acknowledge receipt of my email of
6 August 2009 and set out a timetable for responding.

I believe I was legally entitled to receive all the information I
requested in my original request within 20 working days of that
request being received by the Trust.

Yours faithfully,

John Cross

Dear Annie Lindsay

Thank you for your email in which you wrote:

"The reason there is no further stages / information about second
preference votes is because the 'quota' had been reached. This is a
number votes an individual needs in order to win the election and
therefore bringing the election to an end."

I agree with your explanation as to why the results sheet does not
contain the full ballot data. Please note however that I have
requested the full ballot data under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and therefore you are required to supply the full ballot data
to me unless you find that you can rely on an exemption. Providing
the results sheet is not on its own sufficient.

I have very clearly defined what I mean by ballot data in my
original request and I have provided an example in subsequent
correspondence.

regards,

John Cross

Dear Sir or Madam,

With regards to my request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000, please could you let me know when you expect to be able to
provide me with the remaining information.

Yours faithfully,

John Cross

thank you

John

Dear Annie Lindsay

In your last email you wrote:

"We hope to be able to respond by the end of the week."

Please could you update me as to when you expect to be able to
respond.

I appreciate that you may need to contact your ballot service
provider who may hold information on behalf of the Trust in order
to answer my request and I realise that this process could take a
few weeks.

Please keep me updated.

Yours faithfully,

John Cross

Dear Annie Lindsay

In your last email you wrote:

"We hope to be able to respond by the end of the week."

Please could you update on or before the 23 September me as to the
status of my request and when you expect to be able to respond in
full.

regards,

John

Dear Sir or Madam,

In your last email (21 September 2009) you wrote:

"I apologise for the delay in responding. This due is due to our
having to consult with a third party.

You should receive a response next week.

Once again I apologise for the delay."

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not provide an extension
for public authorities wishing to consult with contractors.

Please could you now send me the information I have requested. I
would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of this email
and set out a timetable for responding to my request.

Yours faithfully,

John Cross

Dear Annie Lindsay,

Thank you for your email. I was a little disappointed that the
ballot papers had been destroyed before the Trust was able to
answer my request but I do appreciate that the rules must be
followed.

I would be interested to know whether your ballot services provider
retains an electronic record of the ballot data even after the
ballot papers are destroyed. If so I believe my original request
could be answered.

I have decided that the best thing for me to do is to request the
2009 ballot data. I am hoping that as the election was held very
recently and you understand what data I am trying to obtain that
this should be a relatively easy exercise.

Yours faithfully,

John Cross