‘Spreadsheet Issue’ Led to Loss of More Than 6,500 Votes at Putney Election Count

Ballot papers are verified at Northallerton Leisure Centre in Northallerton, North Yorkshire in the 2024 General Election on July 5, 2024. (Temilade Adelaja/PA)

A spreadsheet issue has resulted in the loss of more than 6,000 votes on election day in Putney, the Wandsworth Council has found.

The general election saw Labour hold the seat in London’s constituency of Putney, where Fleur Anderson was reported to receive 20,952 votes. She beat the Conservative candidate Lee Roberts, who secured 10,011 votes.

Liberal Democrat Kieren McCarthy received 5,189 votes and the third-largest share of votes.

However, according to an update by the Wandsworth Council on Wednesday, not all Putney votes had been “properly counted and allocated.”

In a statement, the council said that as a result of “a spreadsheet issue,” the election count in Putney failed to include all votes.

“This was identified and the figures on this page have been updated. This did not affect the result or the order of the candidates,” the local authority said.

Updated figures show that Labour’s Ms. Anderson had in fact secured 24,113 votes, while the Tory candidate, Mr. Roberts, received 11,625 votes.

Mr. McCarthy’s result was changed from 5,189 to 5943 votes.

“While we are confident this was an isolated incident we are taking this opportunity to review processes with a particular focus on spreadsheet procedures,” the council said.

Putney has been held by the Conservatives between 2005 and 2019. The seat was the sole Labour gain in the 2019 general election, amid the worst results for the party in 84 years. Ms. Anderson had won 45.1 percent of the share of the votes, against 35.7 percent received by the Tory candidate Will Sweet.

In July, Putney became one of 411 seats won by Labour in a record landslide victory.

“Thank you to everyone in Putney who voted for me, for putting your trust in me. I am deeply honoured and delighted to have doubled my majority,” Ms. Anderson said, following her re-election.

Tory Reactions

Reacting to the miscalculation of votes, Wandsworth Conservatives said they were “shocked to learn 6,558 votes went missing on election night.”

“Wandsworth residents need answers. How did this error happen? Why wasn’t it detected ‘til now? What steps are being taken to prevent a repeat?” a statement on X, formerly Twitter, said.

Aled Richards-Jones, leader of the Conservative group on Wandsworth Council, has called on the local authority to explain the miscount of votes. He added that the council “tried to smuggle this fact out unnoticed.”

Conservative councillors brought up the issue at the meeting of the council’s Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday.

During the meeting, councillor Peter Graham–who had requested to discuss the vote count issue as an urgent agenda item–questioned the decision by the chair Annamarie Critchard to not allow it.

“We have extreme concerns about this when we have a situation where the official declaration of parliamentary election was got wrong and we are not allowed to scrutinise it, not just now, but ever,” Mr. Graham said.

Ms. Critchard said it was an important issue, which needs “a proper and full response” but decided that it was “not the time and place to do it.”

She told Mr. Graham that she will get back to him and his colleagues “reasonably quickly.”

Conservative Thamesfield councillor, John Locker said that the vote count mistake was a “concerning” development and called for an external investigation.

According to the Electoral Commission guidance on the administration of vote counts, once the acting officers declare the result at the count—it is final and cannot be amended.

“You should therefore take care to ensure that the result you declare is accurate,” the advice says.

Following updated vote results, Putney’s Green Party candidate Fergal McEntee saw his votes increase from 3,182 to 3,721. Reform UK’s Peter Hunter was up from 2,681 to 3,070.

The Workers Party candidate Heiko Khoo received 58 extra votes to his 433 vote result. Felix Burford-Connole of Rejoin EU won 332 not 289.