3SEP

Clacton's ballot paper runs to 90cm

2 min read

12:41UTC

Ian Davidson, the returning officer for Clacton, says the 34-candidate ballot paper will cost around four times a typical by-election's, and it measures roughly 90cm.

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Key takeaway

Thirty-four candidates have produced a 90cm ballot paper costing four times the usual.

Ian Davidson, chief executive of Tendring District Council and Acting Returning Officer for Clacton, said the constituency's ballot paper "is expected to cost around four times as much as a more typical ballot paper for a by-election of this kind" ¹. The paper runs to roughly 90cm because 34 candidates registered for the contest . Four right-wing parties appear on the nomination paper fixed on 17 July . The Acting Returning Officer is the official legally responsible for running the poll and declaring the result.

A paper that size changes the ballot box fill rate, the folding, the verification and the speed at which counting staff can sort into candidate piles, which is why Davidson expects the declaration to run into the early hours rather than land shortly after midnight ². Polls open at 7am on 13 August and close at 10pm, and no exit poll will be commissioned ³.

Nothing in electoral law caps the number of candidates or charges any of them more than the standard £500 deposit, so the printing bill scales with the field while the candidates' costs do not. Clacton votes on Thursday, and the count is expected to last through the night ⁴.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Anyone who wants to stand as a candidate in a UK parliamentary by-election needs to pay a £500 deposit, which they get back only if they win at least 5% of the vote. Because that bar is low and a high-profile by-election like Clacton's draws national attention, it attracted 34 candidates, more than most people have ever seen on a ballot paper. Printing and handling a ballot paper long enough to list all of them costs far more than a normal by-election, roughly four times as much according to Ian Davidson, the council official in charge of running the poll. The vote itself takes place on 13 August.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Tendring District Council faces roughly four times the usual ballot printing cost for a single by-election.
Meaning
The low, inflation-frozen £500 candidacy deposit is the specific mechanism that let 34 candidates afford to stand in one contest.

Source Landscape

This story draws on mixed-leaning sources from Belgium and United States

Belgium

United States

Primary parallel: The 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election, called by David Davis over civil liberties, drew 26 candidates and needed an oversized ballot paper for the same structural reason as Clacton: the deposit required to stand is only £500, low enough that a high-profile, high-turnout by-election attracts fringe and single-issue candidates in numbers a routine local contest never sees.

Counter-parallel: Most parliamentary by-elections draw under ten candidates, because they lack the national media attention that pulls in deposit-forfeiting protest candidates; scale in ballot length is the exception driven by a contest's profile, not the rule.

Ian Davidson, chief executive of Tendring District Council and Acting Returning Officer for the by-election, said the 90cm ballot paper is expected to cost around four times as much as a typical by-election ballot paper, a cost the local authority bears as part of its statutory duty to administer the poll, though returning officers can reclaim certain election expenses from the Consolidated Fund under the relevant electoral administration rules.

Each of the 34 candidates paid a £500 deposit, returnable only if they win at least 5% of the vote cast; with that many candidates, most deposits are likely to be forfeited to the public purse rather than returned, though the £500 threshold is fixed by statute and has not risen with inflation, which is part of why so many candidates found it affordable to stand.

Sources:Politico Europe·Politico Europe

Mentions:Clacton →Tendring District Council →

First Reported In

Update #15 · Reform bleeds councillors, wins by-elections

Politico Europe· 12 Aug 2026

Read original →

Causes and effects

Caused by

Clacton's ballot paper splits the right four ways

Davidson's cost estimate follows from the 34-candidate nomination paper fixed on 17 July.

Occurred 17 Jul 2026

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This Event

Clacton's ballot paper runs to 90cm

A record candidate field turns a routine printing job into a cost and handling problem for the officials counting overnight.

Led to

Farage wins Clacton back by 12,784 votes

Davidson's earlier warning about ballot paper cost previewed the practical challenges he described again at the declaration.

Occurred 14 Aug 2026

Read story →

Different Perspectives

Scottish Labour members

Scottish Labour's published leadership nominations show 33 MPs and MSPs backing Michael Marra against 12 for Joe Fagan, with members voting until 17 September and a result on 19 September. Elected members do not cast the ballot, so the nomination gap measures the parliamentary party rather than the membership that will decide it.

Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission published its Q2 2026 donations register on 3 September, recording Reform UK's £5.44m as the highest of any party and Ben Delo's £4m as two cash gifts. The register records a donation's form and amount, not the origin of a donor's wealth, so a cash gift shows the same as any other.

Reform UK

Danny Kruger, Reform UK's MP for East Wiltshire, called the Bill "a flagrantly partisan attempt to kneecap Reform UK" during the 2 September debate, objecting to its trade-union exemption. Reform enters its Birmingham conference having topped Q2's donor register at £5.44m, £4m of it in cash from Ben Delo, a form the new ban does not reach.

Ian Davidson, Acting Returning Officer for Clacton

Davidson's office printed a 90cm ballot paper for the record 34-candidate field, with nothing in electoral law capping candidate numbers or the £500 deposit each pays. He expects the paper's size to raise printing costs and slow the count into the early hours, a strain that follows from the major parties' boycott, not from turnout.

Labour Party

Labour gained Penistone East from Reform on 20 August but lost Harraby South to Reform the same night, a wash that undercuts any claim of momentum. The party can point to beating Reform in a genuinely fought contest, but not to a pattern running only in its favour.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats took two of Reform's May wards, Almondbury on 13 August and St Neots Eynesbury on 20 August, the latter on a 29.8-point rise in their own vote share. Both results let the party claim it is the beneficiary when voters turn against Reform, not Labour or the Conservatives.