Retiring councillors step down as voter ID local council election pilot reaches final week

The 11 retiring North Kesteven district councillors not seeking re-election. They make up 25 per cent of the council.

Together they have contributed 89 years of service to the District Council, over periods spanning from two to 20 years.

Himself a retiree after 12 years, council chairman Coun Geoff Hazelwood, read a citation on each one’s contribution and presented them with a certificate and crystal paperweight.

They were all thanked for their time, contribution and service to the District Council and the communities of North Kesteven.

Voter ID reminders have been plaster across waste collection trucks as they travel around North Kesteven.

They were Councillors: Kate Cook (five years); Keith Dolby (eight); Edward Herring (two); Grenville Jackson (six); Rob Kendrick (eight); Wallace Lee (20); Susanna Matthan (four); Cat Mills (three); Ron Oxby (16); Mark Suffield (five); and Geoff Hazelwood (12).

Electors in North Kesteven are reminded that in order to vote in Thursday’s Local Elections they will need ID with them.

This is a new and different requirement to usual and only applies within North Kesteven at the May 2 elections – not at any other.

The District Council has been selected as one of ten pilot areas to trial Voter ID as a measure to combat the reality and the perceptions of electoral fraud.

It is polling day on Thursday May 2 in North Kesteven to elect local district, town and parish councillors.

While there is no known problem of electoral fraud within North Kesteven, it is thought useful to test the Voter ID requirements in an area such as this to better inform the Cabinet Office of how it might operate if it was ever to be rolled out nationally, as in Northern Ireland and other countries.

On May 2, there are 76 candidates vying for 39 of the council’s 43 seats in 23 contested Wards. There are no elections in North Hykeham’s Witham Ward, Leasingham and Rauceby and Billinghay, Martin and North Kyme as the seats are uncontested.

There are also parish council elections in six communities of North Kesteven – Bassingham, Brant Broughton and Stragglethorpe, Great Hale, Potterhanworth, Scopwick and Kirkby Green and Sleaford Town Council’s Castle Ward.

Voters need to remember that if they want their vote to count at any of these elections, they will have to show one or two of the 28 types of approved ID which they have all been told about on their Poll Card.

The white Poll Card is one of the 18 non-photo ID types that can be used, alongside a bank card, utility bill or cheque book for instance. If using a photo ID, like a driving licence or passport, only one type is needed.

In North Kesteven it is the white Poll Card that’s needed, not the pink one which is for the European Parliamentary Elections on May 23.

And voters are assured that no data will be taken from the ID, only a note of which types are used.

For more information see www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/VoterID

Polling stations are open 7am to 10pm on May 2, with votes being counted overnight and available online and via social media.