Kentish Express Ashford & District
Campaign kicks off for county council elections next month
The county council election campaign in Kent has begun in earnest with the full list of candidates contesting 81 seats now published.
Polling day is Thursday, May 6, and, with the campaign being fought in the shadow of Covid19, there will be a different set of challenges for candidates and voters in what has been dubbed “Super Thursday”.
Voters will have to wear masks in polling stations and are being encouraged to take their own pencil.
Election officials have warned there could also be delays and queues to comply with social distancing requirements.
Voters will also be expected to use hand sanitisers at polling stations.
Because elections for councils were put on hold last year, some voters in the county could have as many as four votes.
In addition to the county council election there will also be the election for the next Kent police and crime commissioner.
This was scheduled to take place last year but was postponed because of the coronavirus crisis, along with district council elections.
That affected polls in two parts of the county - Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells - where a third of seats in each are being contested.
The government has insisted that preparations for the elections will mitigate against the possible risk of transmission of Covid-19.
There have been some changes
to voting arrangements, notably the practice of driving voters to polling stations.
In its “delivery plan” issued in February, the government said it would be recommending that political parties and candidates do not in the common practice offer car lifts to members of the public to and from polling stations.
It is because this has been identified as a particular risk of spreading the virus.
Election officials in the county have said preparations for the poll had meant additional pressures and a potential increase in the costs as a result of ensuring staff at counts and at polling stations were adequately protected.
At the last election, in 2017, the Conservatives romped to victory, securing a large majority.
Candidates in the Ashford district and the county divisions they are contesting:
■ Ashford Central Division: Paul Bartlett (Con), Kate
Leavey (Lab), Charlotte Mbali (Lib Dem), Liz Wright (Green)
■ Ashford East Division: Steve Campkin (Green), Graham Galpin (Con), Garry Harrison (Ind), Sojan Joseph (Lab), Samuel Strolz (Lib Dem)
■ Ashford Rural East Division: Clair Bell (Con), Alan Dean (Lab), Caroline Knight (Lib Dem), Geoffrey Meaden (Green)
■ Ashford Rural South Division: Theresa Dickens (Lib Dem), Dawn Nilsson (Green), David Robey (Con), Mark Silvester (Lab), Jason Smith (Ind)
■ Ashford Rural West Division: Adrian Gee-Turner (Lib Dem), Hilary Jones (Green), Andrew Lewin (Libertarian Party), Charlie Simkins (Con), Norma Smyth (Lab)
■ Ashford South Division: Hein Behrens (Lib Dem), Dara Farrell (Lab), Thom Pizzey (Green), Dirk Ross (Con)
■ Tenterden Division: Chris Grayling (Lib Dem), Mike Hill (Con), Emma Maclennan (Lab), Guy Pullen (Green)