Reform UK candidate brings elections petition over “coin toss” approach to deciding vote
A Reform UK party candidate who lost in the May local elections following a ballot draw has called for donations so that she can continue bringing an elections petition against Worcestershire County Council and Wychavon District Council.
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Petitioner Liz Williams said her costs have surged after being ordered to pay the legal costs of the chief executive of the county council who she had initially named as a respondent.
Both Williams and Green Party candidate, Hannah Robson, received the same number of votes for the Littletons Division of Worcestershire County Council earlier this year.
After several recounts, the Deputy Returning Officer resolved to pull a vote from a ballot box at random in order to decide the vote.
Robson was found to have won the division after her name was pulled from the ballot box.
Williams later submitted an elections petition naming Worcestershire County Council's chief executive and the Deputy Returning Officer of Wychavon District Council - as well as Robson and a West Mercia Police SPOC - as respondents.
The legal challenge contends amongst other things that the approach to deciding the election was not carried out in accordance with due process of law, and "did not allow time for independent legal advice to be obtained when being pressured into accepting the process in principle".
Williams claims that she did not feel able to witness the entire process “without obstruction” and that her concerns were not heard at the time.
Her petition adds: "The Worcester News article dated 02 May 2025 makes reference to: 'The Returning Officer was forced to leave the room as the crowd stood still while a person placed both candidates names in to a box and shuffled them around'.
"I was not able to see this and only saw one slip being folded where I protested as to how do we know they are both been folded the same. I could not see the box for all of the preparation and was not included in that.
“I did not agree to a third person shuffling the papers. Once in the ballot box, only the Returning Officer should have had their hand in the box."
She also claims that there were several alleged, witnessed and evidenced breaches of secrecy during the count and ballot draw.
Williams is seeking a range of declarations including that Robson was not elected by a due process of law "but by an equivalent of a 'toss of a coin' and therefore the election declaration be void", and that the secrecy of the ballot was compromised contrary to the Representation of Peoples Act 1983.
At a directions hearing on 16 July, the court ordered Williams pay costs.
Commenting on the hearing, a spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council confirmed that the judge ordered the removal of the county council’s chief executive as a respondent.
The petitioner was also ordered to cover the chief executive’s legal costs.
Williams said the costs were "significant" and that she is now fighting a "technical issue regarding timing of the petition which could dismiss the petition".
She added that she is currently awaiting the outcome of a separate High Court case, which could have a bearing on her case.
She said: “If the rules I allege have been broken and no action is taken by the authorities (they currently are saying, there won't be) it opens the floodgates for abuse of the laws on polling days and counts. There is then also the issue of apparent lack of enforcement mechanisms despite those duties being spelled out in the legislation.
“The legality of ballot draws also been repeatedly raised by voters locally as being unfair and undemocratic.”
Meesha Patel, Director of Legal and Governance for Wychavon, said: “We are confident the election was delivered substantially within the law and we will present our case to the court at a future date.”
Adam Carey
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