London council chief steps down after fiasco that saw chief rabbi turned away

Incorrect lists were sent to polling stations across Barnet, meaning thousands couldn’t vote in election won by Sadiq Khan

The chief executive of London’s borough of Barnet, home to the capital’s highest number of Jewish residents, has left his post after a fiasco on election day last Thursday meant thousands of voters, including Britain’s chief rabbi, were unable to cast their votes.

Andrew Travels stepped aside by “mutual agreement,” the Guardian reported Monday.

The borough’s 155 polling stations received incorrect lists for the election, which saw Sadiq Khan elected by an overwhelming margin to serve as the capital’s first Muslim mayor. The council does not know how many of the borough 236,196 eligible voters were unable to cast their ballots.

The Guardian reported that Mirvis had not received an apology. It said Barnet was investigating the fiasco.

On Sunday, a day after his signing-in ceremony, Khan attended a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony — in Barnet. He sat next to Mirvis, who applauded warmly when the mayor was introduced.

In an interview that same day with the UK’s Jewish News, Khan vowed to build bridges between Jews and Muslims in the city, and said he envisaged visiting Tel Aviv on a trade mission.

An official for Barnet Council had admitted on Thursday that the problem “affected all 155 polling stations in the borough.”

In a message posted to its Twitter account, Barnet council wrote: “Please can voters unable to vote this morning return to their polling station later if possible. We apologise for these problems.”

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis gives a speech as he attends a Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony at Central Hall Westminster, January 27, 2015. (AP/Chris Jackson) — Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. (AP/Chris Jackson)

Barnet Mayor Mark Shooter admitted that “the lists were wrong – the lists that were sent out only had recently registered voters on.”

“This is a very rare problem. There’s an investigation going on; they’ll have to get to the bottom of what went wrong,” added Shooter, who is Jewish. “People are upset. We have to ascertain what went wrong and learn lessons.”

Unsuccessful Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith told voters to try again later in the day, but Mirvis said that was out of the question for him as he was departing for the Netherlands the same day.