A CANDIDATE who lost out in the local elections earlier this month claims he may be the victim of election fraud and is taking legal advice.
Independent Donald Wood, of College Fields, Barnsley, who contested the seat for the Old Town ward, received 698 votes - just 22 less than Labour’s Jo Newing who retained her seat on Barnsley Council.
Kevin Bennett, representing the Liberal Democrats, received 191 votes while Green Party’s Kate Raynor (259 votes) and Conservative candidate Clive Watkinson (185) also took part in the ward, which had a 24.7 per cent turnout.
Mr Wood, 81, claims he had been ‘congratulated’ on winning the seat by people at the count, but alleges a ‘mysterious box’ appeared which contained late postal votes.
The former pharmacist told the Chronicle he is now in discussions with the council’s elections manager, Peter Clark, and is looking into legal advice.
“I feel cheated and I’m not sure what I can do about it, but I am not happy how the count was conducted,” he added. “It’s not a case of me being a bad loser but this is a serious matter.
“I was told I had won, although not officially, but another box mysteriously appeared and the next thing I knew I’d lost. This came 45 minutes after.”
A council spokesman said: “We can assure people that electoral protocol and procedures were fully carried out at the count for the 2019 local elections.”
