POSTAL voting has so far been given a major thumbs down by the North West electorate - as problems continued to dog the controversial pilot scheme last night. Early indications of the numbers of votes returned have been disappointing, especially as experts suggest most people will vote within three days of receiving their ballots. It now seems unlikely the costly pilot will deliver the major increases in turnout expected by the Government. In Liverpool, 21,700 ballots out of 334,000 registered voters had been returned by Tuesday, a result of just 6.5%. Although there is still a week to go - and last weekend's Bank Holiday may have delayed returns - that still compares unfavourably with the poor turnouts of 21% in 2003 and 29% in 2002. One councillor said: "The turnout in my ward is only about 3% at the moment, and although quite a few have come in today it does not look like we will see the big increase some were expecting." In Sefton, the 32,000 returned ballots are equivalent to 15% of the electorate and Wirral's 30,000 votes equals a 12.5% turnout so far. Experience seems to have helped the voters of St Helens, who took part in a much smaller postal pilot last year. That doubled turnout and this year the borough has already received 21,574 returned forms or 15.9%. But the picture is much worse in other parts of the region. In Halton, just 56 votes out of 91,135 have been returned. Many of the papers have only just reached householders while the rest will be delivered over the next few days. Printing problems have also left West Lancs voters waiting in vain for their ballots. The council's contractors Opt2Vote have now delivered all the forms to the Royal Mail, but it could take a few days before the ballots arrive at homes. West Lancs returning officer Bill Taylor said: "While government timescales have been very tight, we have pulled out all the stops to ensure that the election goes ahead in a professional manner. I encourage everyone to use their vote." Householders in two areas of Liverpool - Penny Lane in Allerton and the Highbank Road area of Garston - had still not received their papers yesterday. A council spokesman said talks with Royal Mail were ongoing. But Lib Dem election agent Richard Clein, who lives in the Penny Lane area, said: "It looks like they may have missed the whole electoral district, which is about 1,500 people. "But this isn't a surprise. We opposed a postal ballot because we thought this sort of thing would happen." | 
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