There were four principal local council by-elections that took place on Thursday 20th January 2011. The Lib Dems held one seat and gained one from the Conservatives. The Tories and Labour held one each. There were no parish or town council results reported to ALDC.In the Marl ward of Conwy Council in North Wales we gained a seat from the Tories. In 2008 we only stood one candidate in the two-member ward. Our candidate Mike Priestely, won handsomely. The Tory elected on the same day resigned to cause the byelection. We had seen it coming as far back as October introducing a new focus editor and delivering two focuses before the resignation finally occurred. We then called the election immediately catching the Tories on the hop. The postal vote was issued on January 2nd. We made sure that despite the weather they all received personal bi-lingual letters from Mike and the candidate. There was a postal vote turnout of 75%, which justified our work. We followed this with further focuses and street letters, and a final targeted letter from Lord Roger Roberts.
The high profile Tory candidate Julie Fallon-Smith appeared in their national general election U-tube campaign “I’ve never voted Tory before but…”. As such she was endorsed in literature from the great and the good of the Tory party from David Cameron down. We responded emphasising the “hard working team” to tie our new candidate in with Mike’s good record. .
In the Olton ward of Solihull Council we were defending a seat where we usually win. Our candidate, whose qualification was working in the borough, had a Walsall address on the ballot paper. The other parties inevitably exploited this. The Tories expected to win and had Eric Pickles waiting in the wings to do the press on Friday but we still managed to hold the seat.
The day on which postal ballots papers are issued and delivered is vital for the timing of literature. Many postal voters will vote within 48 hours of receiving the ballot paper. Do not take the councils word for when the issue will take place. They will be have “out sourced” the printing and dispatch of postal votes and agreed a deadline with them. If you ask the council they will usually tell you the final date in the contract. Be careful as the contractor could, and probably will beat the deadline. Ballots will not normally be issued before the final day for applications for postal votes and amendments to existing postal votes on the eleventh day before the poll. In many areas this will means that the Postal Vote will be sent out in two batches: Batch 1 existing postal voters. Batch 2 late amendments and additions.
The second complicating factor is the work loads in postal delivery offices. Many postmen can and do a “chunk” each day to spread the heavy load making “doormat” arrival unpredictable.