The ‘Yes’ campaign won a majority in Bristol on about 5000 votes but concerns are being raised by elected members questioning why the ballot boxes were kept overnight in a highly politicised private business premises, Bristol City Football Club at Ashton Gate, owned by long time critic of Bristol City Council Stephen Lansdown, giving him and his colleagues to possibility of interfering in the electoral process overnight.

Former slave traders 'The Merchant Venturers', local paper 'The Post' and the business community of Bristol annoint Architect and Merchant Venturer, George Ferguson, as their favoured candidate for mayor in November 2012.

 http://bcfm.org.uk/2012/05/04/17/friday-drivetime-69/16899

Related Link:  http://radio4all.net/index.php/program/59745


plus - outside Bristol

The winner in the race for Mayor of London, which was meant to have been announced an hour ago, has been delayed - after a power outage caused chaos with vote-counting machines earlier today.
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138853/London-mayoral-electio ns-2012-Boris-marches-predicted-point-win-Ken-help-ease-night-Tory-council-election-pain.html
Two batches of ballot papers are currently being reprocessed in Brent and Harrow.
Electronic vote counting at one of the count centres in the capital was delayed by more than an hour today following a power cut, officials have said.
The process of scanning ballot papers at Alexandra Palace in north London had been due to start at 8.45am, but did not get under way until 10.15am due to the temporary loss of power.
It is understood builders there may not have known the count was happening but it will probably not delay the result.

Postal voting fraud still commons, warns "banana republic" judge
 http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2012/04/27/postal-voting-fraud-still-commons-warns-banana-republic-judge-97319-30848881/
Deputy High Court judge Richard Mawrey said almost nothing had changed since his landmark ruling in 2005.
And he warned: “In local elections, a small number of votes will make a considerable difference. The opportunities for fraud are enormous, the chances of detection very small, and a relatively modest amount of fraud will guarantee you win the election.”
The only solution was to scrap rules introduced in 2001 which allowed voters to request a postal voting form without giving a reason. Before then, voters had to make their way to the polling station to vote in person, unless they could prove they had a good reason not to.