BRAINTREE District Council has apologised after some voters received “duplicate” forms ahead of this week’s General Election.

The council confirmed that residents across the Braintree district have received “duplicate” postal voting packs due to a print supplier error.

This mistake happened due to a  “data correlation issue as a result of the changes to the parliamentary boundaries”.

The eight affected polling areas on June 28 included Black Notley, Hill House in Braintree, Cressing, Colne Engaine, Earls Colne, Pebmarsh, Stisted and White Colne.

It is a criminal offence for anyone to submit two votes, even if by mistake.

Dan Gascoyne, the acting returning officer at Braintree Council said: “We are aware that some residents who are registered to vote by post have received duplicate postal vote packs on June 28.

“These were sent out by our print supplier in error following a data correlation issue as a result of the changes to the parliamentary boundaries.

“We are asking those who have received duplicate postal vote packs to destroy the duplicate pack and return only one voting pack.

“Any duplicate packs received will be removed from the process and rejected."

He added: “Each postal vote received is processed and is subject to a robust validation process, which records those that have been received against the electoral register and ensures that only one vote will be counted.

“We have checked the systems and are satisfied there is no risk of duplicate voting occurring.

“Please be assured that no one in the Braintree and Witham constituencies will be able to vote twice.

“We apologise for any inconvenience or confusion caused.”

If you have already returned your postal vote already prior to June 28, your vote is not affected and has already been processed.