London’s complex mayoral election system ‘confuses’ voters and should be reformed, election review panel says.

The 2016 elections for the Mayor and London Assembly saw 2.6 million people vote on each of the three ballot papers for their Mayoral candidate, Assembly constituency and Assembly list member.

A report into the election published today by the London Assembly Election Review Panel found nearly two-thirds of rejected first-choice votes were due to people voting for too many candidates as their first choice.

The panel warned this indicated there may still be confusion about the supplementary vote system used to elect the Mayor of London.

The report recommended guidance options should be tested with voters in order to improve clarity and reduce rejected votes. It also said the Government should review the risks of holding polls on the same day.

For the 2020 GLA election every polling station should be prepared to record any incident in a log book, the panel also suggested, including any person’s name and address if they are unable to vote for any reason.

‘It’s clearly very worrying that London’s voters are confused by the three different voting systems in place. This needs to be addressed with urgency to ensure proper voter education is provided,’ election review panel chair, Len Duvall AM said.

‘That education is even more important for 2020, when the implications of a general election and the London elections on the same day would cause even more confusion.

‘Given the scale and the different types of election methodology which apply, there really is no other option than to move the 2020 London elections to October, or later.’