The Police and Crime Commissioner elections in November 2012 were organised by the Home Office, a Government agency unused to such work. They have been widely criticised since by the Electoral Commission and Electoral Reform Society, two organisations whose focus is the smooth running of such processes. As an Independent candidate without any previous experience of elections, I was aware of a number of elements that did not go very well and before the next election it is vital that substantial changes are made.

In the scheme of things, the way in which voting slips were printed may seem to be a small matter, but the rules were very different from local elections. This is concerning because the elections for the Police and Crime Commissioners were meant to be treated in the same way as other local elections treat the election of Councillors. In local elections all candidates who stand as Independents can choose to have this stated on the voting slip providing them with a sense of parity with the party politicians. However this choice was not available to any of the PCC candidates. During the election a significant number of people expressed concern about this as many of them wanted to be able to vote for a candidate with the word Independent against their name. It is vital that this change is made in time for the May 2016 elections (a mere 3 years away).