Forthcoming Police and Crime Commissioner elections will use the ‘Supplementary Vote’ system, where voters may choose a first and second choice candidate.
Incorrect. These elections will actually use ‘First Past the Post’, where voters only choose one candidate.
Mayoral elections use the ‘Supplementary Vote’ system.
Incorrect. Since May 2023 mayoral elections in England have used ‘First Past the Post’.
Police and Crime Commissioners are elected using the supplementary vote system. You make a first and second choice when you vote.
Earlier this month at least nine councils were giving voters in England and Wales the wrong information about how to take part in mayoral or Police and Crime Commissioner elections, a Full Fact investigation reveals.
When we spot checked a number of council websites, we found that as of 8 April, eight said that Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are elected using the ‘Supplementary Vote’ (SV) system, in which voters are allowed to select a first and second choice candidate on their ballot papers (in elections with more than two candidates). Two council websites—one of which had also made the error about PCC elections— wrongly said mayoral elections take place using SV.
In fact, upcoming elections for PCCs on 2 May will use the ‘First Past the Post’ (FPTP) system, not SV, and the same is true of mayoral elections. This means voters can only choose one candidate on their ballot paper, as they do in general elections. Voters who make more than one selection may not have their vote counted.
This is due to changes arising from the Elections Act 2022, which introduced the FPTP system for mayoral and PCC elections in England and Wales.
After we pointed out the errors, all the councils concerned removed the incorrect information from their websites.
In December 2023 and January 2024, Parliament and the UK Government updated their official websites after we pointed out similar errors.
Councils should have systems in place to ensure that information voters receive through their websites is accurate and up to date, so that voters know exactly how elections work and how their vote will be counted, to avoid confusion and to maintain trust in the democratic process. Old and outdated information should clearly be marked and dated, and councils should point voters in the direction of more recent information.
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Websites for Cheltenham Borough Council, Cherwell District Council, East Devon District Council, Hartlepool Borough Council, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, North Hertfordshire District Council and Wyre Council all wrongly said that PCCs are elected using SV. We also found the same error on the website for the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner,
Bristol City Council’s website said: “The supplementary voting system is used for mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner elections”, while North Tyneside Council’s website said: “Mayoral elections use the supplementary vote system, a type of proportional representation. This allows for a first and a second choice vote.”
Since we contacted the councils concerned, all have taken action to remove the wrong information. Some have edited the information to remove the reference to SV or made clear it’s no longer used, while others just have deleted the page in question. Some councils also told us the pages were old web pages, available only via search rather than linked from other parts of their website, or that they were correct at the time of publication.
We didn’t receive a response from Northumbria PCC, but part of its FAQs, which previously said “elections currently use the supplementary vote system where voters pick a first and second choice of candidate” has now been replaced with information about the FPTP system.
We are grateful for the swift action taken in response to our enquiries.
When we asked the Local Government Association about our findings, it said: “Councils work closely with the Electoral Commission to make sure their residents are kept well informed about elections that are taking place in their areas.
“Election teams in councils are often small and have a range of competing priorities when carrying out the tasks needed to successfully administer an election, all amid ongoing capacity and resource challenges.”
Under the SV system, in elections with more than two candidates voters may choose a first and second choice candidate. They mark their preferences on their ballot paper, in two separate columns.
If a candidate receives more than half of the first choice votes, they are elected. If no candidate manages this, only the two candidates with the most first choice votes move to a second round of counting.
At this stage, the second choice votes of those who’ve voted for an eliminated candidate are counted and tallied, and whichever of the remaining two candidates receives the most first and second choice votes combined wins.
Under FPTP, which is also used in general elections, voters typically select a single candidate on their ballot paper. Whoever gets the most votes wins.
The Electoral Commission, the independent body that oversees elections in the UK and regulates political finance, has provided examples of ballot papers that it suggests should be rejected in PCC elections, such as apparently voting for more than one candidate. However, the Electoral Commission says “ultimately the decision on any particular ballot paper rests with the Local Returning Officer”.
The Electoral Commission told us it doesn’t have a role in checking election information on local authority websites, but said its website contains accurate and updated information on elections taking place in the UK.
PCCs represent police forces in England and Wales. There are currently 41 elected PCCs. 39 PCCs will be elected on 2 May. (In a few larger metropolitan areas including London, police governance comes under the remit of the mayor.)
The role of a PCC includes appointing the chief constable, and setting the budget and policing priorities for the force they represent. The first PCC elections took place in November 2012, and occur every four years.
Candidates can run as independents, or as a representative of a political party.
Until now, all PCC elections have used SV.
The Elections Act 2022 changed a number of rules surrounding elections in the UK, and England and Wales, such as the introduction of voter ID requirements for UK parliamentary elections and local elections in England.
Section 13 of the Act introduced provisions for the elections of mayors of combined authority areas, the Mayor of London and elected mayors of local authorities in England to be held using FPTP. It also introduced FPTP for PCC elections in England and Wales.
While the Act passed into law in April 2022, this section was activated on 26 October 2022, and the change in voting system applied to elections from May 2023 onwards.
This year’s elections on 2 May will be the first time FPTP is used for PCC elections, but some mayors were elected using this system in May 2023.
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