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LONDON mayoral candidate Sophie Walker made a formal complaint yesterday after spectacular bungling by Barnet Council meant many voters were turned away from morning polling.
The Women’s Equality Party candidate registered a complaint with the council and the London Assembly when it emerged that many names were missing from electoral registers across Barnet and that residents had been prevented from voting.
The council apologised and said that all the registers had been updated by 10am allowing people to vote as normal.
Ms Walker said she was “very disappointed” and had been responding to concerned voters all morning.
“Women first got the vote 100 years ago and there are women today who have been unable to vote. These are vital votes, particularly for smaller parties.”
Green mayoral candidate Sian Berry called for Barnet polling stations to stay open for longer and reopen this morning, while local Labour assembly member Andrew Dismore condemned the “total shambles” and said he’d draw up a dossier on the mess.
Embarrassingly for Barnet council, Britain’s chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and his wife Valerie were among those turned away from their polling station — and then he had to fly off to Amsterdam for work.
Hammersmith Lyric Theatre head of stage Guy Fryer was missing from the list but managed to vote after “standing his ground” at a polling station in Strawberry Vale.
“How can we have a fair vote if not everyone has voted?” he asked. “An apology is really not good enough. It’s not a bring-and-buy sale — it really, really matters.”