Ballot paper for Clacton by-election is longest in British electoral history

A long sheet of paper sits on wood-topped tables, with various boxes printed on it. A yellow tape measure is extended parallel to the paper.

Image source, SIMON DEDMAN/BBCImage caption,

The ballot paper for the parliamentary by-election in Clacton, as this replica shows, is nearly a metre long

BySimon DedmanEssex political reporter

Published4 hours ago

The longest ballot paper in British political history is costing four times as much to print than regular ballot papers, the local council has said.

The list for the Clacton parliamentary by-election, which was prompted by the resignation of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, is 90cm (3ft) long.

When people unfold the paper, they will find it is longer than most adults' arms.

Tendring District Council chief executive Ian Davidson - who is the acting returning officer for the by-election in the Essex constituency - said organising the vote had been "manic".

People have already started returning postal votes to town hall and most registered voters will go to polling stations on 13 August.

Davidson said: "We've logistically been looking at the size of the ballot paper, how we fold it to get it into the envelope so we can send it out to our postal voters [and] how we manage the polling stations."

A man wearing a light blue linen jacket and light blue shirt, holding up a long white piece of paper that is thin and long like a giant receipt in an office.

Image caption,

Ian Davidson unfurled the ballot paper for the BBC

Davidson said his teams are having to make changes to the way they usually carry out elections.

The ballots are "going to be sometimes longer than the table so we're having to do double tables and we're going to have to sort them in batches before we can verify them or even count them."

Paul Whiteley, professor of government at the University of Essex, said the previous record for the number of candidates standing for a seat in the House of Commons was the Haltemprice and Howden by-election in East Yorkshire in July 2008.

"David Davis resigned his seat and stood again as a protest over the issue of civil liberties," explained Whiteley.

"There were 26 candidates."

Prior to that, the previous record was the Newbury by-election in Berkshire in 1993, which featured 19 candidates.

Farage resigned as MP for Clacton on 7 July, following increased scrutiny over his finances and a parliamentary investigation, but the Reform leader is standing again.

Among the candidates on the ballot are 20 independents - also a record for a single election.

A full list of the 34 candidates is available on the BBC News website. The main parties have chosen not to stand.