Selston man’s anger after two election poll cards sent to his late wife

Ken Renno was horrified to discover Ashfield District Council still had his wife Joyce Kathleen Renno registered as a voter despite being informed last November that she had died that month after suffering a brain haemorrhage following a fall.

Mr Renno, 79 said: “It was very distressing to receive Poll cards in her name months after her fatal accident.

“When I rang the relevant department I was told by a member of their voter registration team that they hadn’t been informed because my wife had died in Tyne and Wear and not Nottinghamshire where she lived so the death wasn’t registered with them.

Yet the council knew of the death as they had changed his council tax to a single occupant rate after he contacted the DWP ‘one call service’

He said the Council Tax department told him there was no mechanism for them to pass on the information supplied by the DWP.

Mr Renno added: “I found this whole matter very distressful and wonder how many others are affected by this lack of communication between local government departments and whether anything can be done to correct this negligent situation from re-occurring.”

A spokesman for Ashfield District Council said: “The Electoral Registration Officer can remove an elector who has died following notification from a close relative, the registrar of births and deaths, receipt of a death certificate, or if satisfied that an elector has died after receiving information from the annual canvass or other sources.

“Usually, this means that the family of an elector who has died does not have contact the Electoral Registration Officer to remove a relative from the register.

In some circumstances, where information has not been received that an elector has died from an official source, a deceased elector can remain registered. When notified of a death, Electoral Services will take swift action to remove the elector from the register in line with legal requirements.”

“In this case, the deceased elector has now been removed from the register. We apologise for any distress this may have caused.”