VOTERS who missed out on a chance to go the polls in the May local elections will get an apology from South Oxfordshire District Council.

Printing problems resulted in chaos during the elections this year in the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire districts.

There were 2,035 postal votes not delivered and 2,250 polling cards never printed.

The Oxford Mail obtained email correspondence between election staff and printers Paragon through the Freedom of Information Act.

It revealed that election staff repeatedly contacted the firm, which is based in the North East, to try to ensure there were no hold-ups.

On Thursday at a meeting of South Oxfordshire District Council, Eleanor Hards, Labour councillor for Didcot Park, put forward a motion calling for the council to apologise to voters.

The motion said the council should “issue an apology to those members of the electorate disenfranchised during the 2011 local elections”.

Eighteen councillors backed the motion with 16 councillors voting against.

Martin Crabtree, a spokesman for South Oxfordshire District Council, said that the apology would be posted on the council’s website in the next few days.