Forum Topic

6,500 votes ‘go missing’ in Putney election count

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/wandsworth-council-putney-london-liberal-democrat-tooting-b1171362.html

Lucille Grant ● 342d19 Comments

combustible was meant to be compostable! Yaah!

Katrina Black ● 341d

I wonder to what extent this is a complete coincidence: the Council's CEO is to step down.https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news/news-july-2024/chief-executive-of-richmond-and-wandsworth-councils-to-step-down/?utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery

Jonathan Callaway ● 341d

We had problems with collections being missed, but found reporting it online worked.They have 2 days to collect, but usually pick up missed collections the following day. It needs a separate form for each type of collection.See WBC website then Rubbish and Recycling then report a missed collection.I haven't found the food collection smells. I use a paper wrap inside the small bin and empty that each evening into the combustible plastic bags they supplied and then these go into the brown bin. A quick wash after collection keeps it fresh.

Katrina Black ● 341d

You really think that the General Election was fixed, Barbara? Wow! 😂

Lucille Grant ● 341d

Argh: "in their creation and implementation." Oops

Michael Ixer ● 341d

I agree Michael.But it is also true to say that, regardless of who is in charge of the Council, many of the staff have been there for a very long time.  So, they have the experience but, as you say, if changes were made to the spreadsheets, all of them should have been properly trained.I mention the long-standing staff because some policies have not changed and are dependent on the staff.  I have the planning committee in mind and many of the cases are decided by the planning officer....

Ivonne Holliday ● 341d

After some "hiccups" the first couple of weeks collections seem to be working correctly in East Putney.

Michael Ixer ● 341d

Well perhaps we should have another vote, so people can change their minds, obviously if they found this in Putney all the votes that have gone missing it could have happened in every other area as well.  Said along it's fixed.

Barbara Stevens ● 341d

They don't pick up the new brown bins. I won't use them. they blasted stink and all the food goes rotten inside. Upstairs have and one is black and moldy inside with loads and loads of black flies. I'm not emptying it, I've already done it once and had to tip yellow gunge into a black bag, the stink was disgusting,

Barbara Stevens ● 341d

Nick might be correct in describing people's attitude towards the use of EUAs (End User Applications) such Excel spreadsheets, MS Word macros, etc as "naive" because there's often a misunderstanding about their reliability if they're not rigourously tested as they're modified and often grow in complexity with no documentation as to how they work. Remember the infamous test and trace system developed during the pandemic that lost thousands of COVID cases:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54423988"Stupid" is probably an unreasonable description as these tools are useful for doing things quickly and cheaply, and probably used with good intent but with a misunderstanding about the risks because of lack of training in there creation and implementation.

Michael Ixer ● 341d

"Naive and stupid" I assume that these are long-serving and experienced staff who have served the council under the Conservatives for many years.

David Ainsworth ● 342d

Robert it’s an excuse for being naive and stupid .

Nick Gulliford ● 342d

I note the comment "While we are confident this was an isolated incident we are taking this opportunity to review processes with a particular focus on spreadsheet procedures". I obviously don't really know the circumstances, but my guess, based on experience, would be that someone made a change - probably at the last minute - and didn't test it properly; perhaps they didn't even realise they needed to test it if they weren't an IT professional? Who knows why last minute changes were being made - again, my best guess would be it was something to do with boundary changes? (For example, perhaps they added one or more extra rows or columns and didn't copy the formulas in them so the figures weren't added into the totals.)Spreadsheets can be dangerous tools in the hands of those who don't really understand them! Just as well it didn't compromise but emphasised the final result. I suppose it could be an issue for a candidate with a small vote if they were on the boundary of losing or keeping their deposit …

Michael Ixer ● 342d

Robert, I’ve no idea either.  I naively thought they just counted up the votes.

Martine Guy ● 342d

They are claiming it was just a “spreadsheet” issue.  Anybody have a clue what this means and why it occurred.

Robert Wheeler ● 342d

Nick, they've changed the rubbish collection system to accommodate the new food waste collections. The trucks need to come round twice now.  No doubt it will settle down over time and maybe the trucks will be converted so that they can collect and keep separate all three different types of rubbish.Wandsworth is one of the last boroughs in London to start food waste collections.  They should have started it years ago.  The more we can recycle the better.

Jonathan Callaway ● 342d

Yes Nick, Labour are not what they used to be back in the 60's. I would not vote for them. I'm sure a lot will regret their decision. Also why do they have pencils not biro's in the voting area's. We used a biro.

Barbara Stevens ● 342d

Definitely Rishis fault!You couldn’t make it up. Why is my weekly rubbish collection that was so perfect for so many years now suddenly gone missing . The whole road up in arms. Rubbish left out for days as collections not what they were! Two weeks we wait now . It just all seems a massive coincidence that everything has gone wrong since Labour have taken leadership of the council.Wonder how long before they go bust like all the other councils they’ve run.Waiting for all the Labour voters to hound me. They won’t be hounding me when all that they’ve worked for all their lives can’t be inherited by their children as Labour go and nick it all in massive IHT hikes. They’ll all come crying back. But I told you so.

Nick Gulliford ● 342d

Good gosh! Were they using some wonderful new digital vote-counting system which does away with the need for paid staff, I wonder?

David Ainsworth ● 342d