Delays in Declaring Election Results Prompt Questions
Highland Council has been asked to clarify why it took 16 hours from the start of vote counting before the final results of the Scottish election were declared.
The local authority was anticipated to announce its three constituency results by late Friday afternoon and the regional list vote by early evening. However, the first constituency result was not declared until 18:50, and the final tally of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) for the region was announced at 01:20 on Saturday morning.
Calls for Review of Counting Process
Highland councillor Isabelle Mackenzie described the situation as "shocking" and has called for a review of the handling of the Highland and Islands counts.
Both Highland Council and the Electoral Commission have been contacted for comment regarding the delays.
Mackenzie, a Scottish Conservative councillor representing Inverness and Millburn, noted that this was the second instance in two years where a Highland count took longer than scheduled.
During the July 2024 general election, the Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire seat was the last in the UK to declare its result after votes were recounted three times. The delay was attributed to a discrepancy between the verified total votes and the provisional number of counted votes.
Mackenzie emphasized the need for corrective action before the local authority elections scheduled for the following year.
"There has to be a review going forward, we can't let this happen a third time," she told BBC Scotland News.
She added:
"To be honest it's shocking that other authorities across Scotland, and rest of the UK, were able to come in with their results in a timely fashion. It's just not a good look for the Highlands."
Mackenzie expressed sympathy for the counting staff, stating that there were periods when they had to "sit around" and other times when they were "under pressure" to count votes. She suggested that additional staff might be required in future elections.
The councillor dismissed the region's geography as a factor in the delay, noting that all ballots had arrived on time for verification and counting.
Comments from Former MSP on Counting Pace
Rhoda Grant, a former Scottish Labour regional MSP who was present at the count to support candidates, described the experience as "exhausting" for everyone involved.
"It was incredibly slow. It must have been a really long day for staff working at the count," she told BBC Naidheachdan.
Grant reported that at one point, staff were sent home only to be called back later. She also mentioned a delay caused by a "printer error."
While acknowledging that Highland Council needed to exercise caution in counting votes, Grant believed that some regional votes could have been counted earlier.
Details of the Counting Process
For the Scottish election, counts began at 09:00 on Friday, a change from previous practice where counting occurred overnight after polls closed.
In the Highlands, votes were counted at a sports centre in Inverness.
The result for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross was announced at approximately 18:50, followed by Inverness and Nairn just after 20:00. The Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch result was declared about 30 minutes later.
Counting then commenced on the Highland and Islands regional list votes, which included ballots submitted electronically from Shetland, Orkney, Western Isles, and Argyll and Bute.
