STEWART PATERSON and ROBBIE DINWOODIE
The firm behind last year's election fiasco has been blamed again after a local council by-election was thrown into disarray.
More than 100,000 votes were not counted in last May's debacle but fewer than 3000 were involved in the latest count, which saw the declaration abandoned overnight in South Lanarkshire.
Only 2594 votes were cast in South Lanarkshire Council's Cambuslang East ward on Thursday but candidates had to wait until noon yesterday to find out the result after the system could not process the data once the votes were counted.
It emerged the software that was being used by DRS, the firm used to supply the equipment and staff for the count, did not work because the licence had expired. The same counting software was used for the Cambuslang East count as that used in last May's Holyrood election.
In January, DRS snubbed the parliamentary inquiry into May's voting fiasco by refusing to appear before MSPs to give evidence. The company said at the time it had to "regrettably decline" the request for oral evidence and that the "quantity of information" it provided to a previous inquiry made an appearance at Holyrood unnecessary.
Labour gained the Cambuslang seat from the SNP with 725 first preference votes to 609, boosting their numbers to 31 in the council they run as a minority administration. Yesterday, South Lanarkshire Council said DRS Solutions was responsible for the counting of votes and was unable to confirm the results, prompting the returning officer to adjourn until the next day.
It became clear the company did not have a licence for the software needed to process the votes into final totals for each of the candidates. Yesterday DRS, based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, claimed it was using the system in partnership with Electoral Reform Services which did not make it aware there was a problem with the licence.
However, Electoral Reform Services said it was unaware DRS was still using the system and had no knowledge of any problem at the South Lanarkshire by-election.
Scotland Central SNP MSP Christina McKelvie condemned the count problems as an "utter shambles". She said: "No lessons have been learned from election night in May. DRS claims the problem was caused because the licence for the software was out of date. That is simply not an acceptable excuse."
Ms McKelvie added: "DRS look completely incapable of performing a simple count in one council ward never mind running a nationwide election.
"I will be taking this up with DRS, South Lanarkshire Council and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace) to find out why yet another election was allowed to descend into a complete farce."
A spokesman for the Electoral Commission raised concern about the by-election vote which, as a council election, does not fall under its remit. "Following the 2007 Scottish elections, the Electoral Commission made clear our serious concerns about the future use of electronic counting. We set out the steps that needed to be taken, including measures to ensure transparency, security and accuracy," he told the BBC.
A South Lanarkshire Council spokeswoman said: "The system counted the votes but was unable to consolidate the data contained in the machine before printing out the result."
After consultation with candidates and agents, Archie Strang, the council chief executive, adjourned proceedings until noon yesterday.
A spokeswoman for DRS said the software it used was "the only approved software that can be used for this calculation and is provided on a sub-contracted basis by Electoral Reform Services (ERS).
"Unfortunately, despite prior agreement with ERS to use this software, the software licence included on the system was out of date and as a result, the E-STV software would not perform the necessary calculation. DRS was not made aware of this limitation."
ERS, however, said yesterday it was unaware that the software was still being used. A spokesman said: "We are not aware this has happened. We supplied the system for the election last year but are not aware they are still using it."
In a solid Labour area, the SNP were able to pick up the third seat in a three-member ward last year but following the death of local stalwart John Higgins it was always going to be difficult for the SNP to replicate that success.
Labour's Richard Tullett gained the seat despite a 22.5% drop in his party's first count vote share - a perverse side-effect of the single transferable vote system introduced for Scottish council elections last year.
The system is meant to achieve a proportional seats share-out but yesterday's result was for only one seat and so leaves Labour with all three of the ward's councillors.
Wendy Alexander, Labour's leader at Holyrood, welcomed her party's victory, saying: "A seat held by the SNP has gone to Labour.
"It is clear that voters in Cambuslang have not bought the SNP spin and realise it's Labour that best stands up for their interests."
The result gives Labour 31 of South Lanarkshire Council's 67 members. The SNP have 23, Scottish Conservatives eight, independents three and Liberal Democrats two.
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