Local election suspended due to death of Tory candidate A local election vote has been suspended due to the death of a candidate after the polls opened. Graham Galton, a Conservative councillor running for the Coxford ward in Southampton, Hampshire, died on Thursday. Southampton city council has told residents not to try to vote in the ward, with another election expected to take place within 35 days. The council said in a statement: “The returning officer has been advised of the death of Coxford ward candidate Mr Graham Galton, who was standing for election to Southampton city council in today’s elections. “Our condolences go to Mr Galton’s family. “The law provides that where proof of death of a candidate is delivered to the returning officer after polls have opened, but before the declaration of result, the poll must be abandoned, and a new election must be held for that ward. “Therefore, the returning officer has closed all the polling stations in Coxford ward and voters should not go to these locations.” We are closing this blog now but you can follow all the results and reactions on our new blog. A summary of today"s developments The polls for the local elections in England will be closing at 10pm. Voters will decide who will run services in 230 local councils with around 8,000 councillors’ seats. Four local mayoral posts are also up for grabs in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough. A local election vote was suspended due to the death of a candidate after the polls opened. Graham Galton, a Conservative councillor running for the Coxford ward in Southampton, Hampshire, died on Thursday. Campaigners said there were “countless examples” of would-be voters being turned away from polling stations in the first elections where photo identification is mandatory. The Electoral Reform Society, which has strongly opposed the introduction, urged ministers to rethink the new law. But the Association of Electoral Administrators said the polls were “running as smoothly as usual”. Away from local election news, RMT members have voted overwhelmingly to continue their rail dispute with a mandate given for industrial action over the next six months. The government said there is no “quick fix” to meet the prime minister’s promise to stop the small boats crossing the Channel. The prime minister’s official spokesman said it would require a “combination of a number of different approaches from the government” to “solve this long-standing problem”. Those measures included “the partnership with Rwanda” and the illegal migration bill. The local elections mark the first time voters in Britain have been required to show photo ID at polling stations before casting their ballot. James Toft, 41, was unable to vote in Chesterfield this morning as he had forgotten his photo ID. The support worker said he “left in a bit of a huff” because work commitments meant he could not return later in the day with ID. Although he said the refusal was “partly his fault,” he added: “The ID requirement is silly.” Toft believes the requirement to bring photo ID to the polling booth could be detrimental to people voting, telling the PA news agency: “They’ll take a look at what you need to do and just not bother voting, especially the younger ones, what about the less well off who can’t afford a passport or other forms (of identification)? Gillian Long, 42, said ID requirements are “a load of rubbish” after she was stopped from voting by an administration error between her ID and the registration system in East Riding, Yorkshire. Long told PA that her address “wasn’t down right on their system”. She said: “I’ve lived there six years and never had an issue.” Here are some more shots from photographers across the country covering the local elections Away from local election news, RMT members have voted overwhelmingly to continue their rail dispute with a mandate given for industrial action over the next six months. Broxbourne in Hertfordshire is expected to declare its results first at 12.30am on Friday. Most councils are expected to declare from midday on Friday. The introduction of voter ID in England has left a number of people, often from more marginalised groups, unable to cast ballots in local elections – although some officials’ fears of widespread chaos did not materialise, write Peter Walker and Jessica Murray. However, opposition MPs and some administrators said a lack of conclusive data collection for the numbers who were unable to vote could mean the problem was notably worse than it appeared. Anecdotal reports from campaigners, MPs and voters highlighted a series of examples in which people were turned away because they lacked one of the relatively small list of photo ID documents that had to be used for the first time in Thursday’s poll. The polls for this year’s local elections in England will close at 10pm. There are around 8,000 councillor seats and four mayoral posts up for grabs. Dozens of voters have been turned away at polling stations because they did not have valid photographic ID, ITV News reported. Polling station tellers in Oxfordshire said “large numbers” are being turned away, reporting that between 10% and 25% have been unable to vote. The Electoral Reform Society said it had seen “countless examples of people being denied their right to vote due to these new laws”.