ABOUT 200 declaration slips were sent back to electors from the first batch of completed postal votes received by Bolton town hall officials -- because they had not been filled in properly.

The papers were returned to voters who had failed to sign the declaration or get the slips witnessed.

Rather than classify them as spoiled votes, town hall chiefs decided to return the declaration form to the voters to give them another chance to complete them correctly.

The number of returned papers has led to fears of a repeat of last year's council elections. Some 10,000 ballot papers were declared spoiled then, with many voters refusing to sign them for fear of the secrecy of the ballot being compromised.

The Electoral Commission demands that a separate declaration slip is signed by both the voter and a witness to prevent fraudulent votes being cast.

The council today urged people who have not received their ballot papers to get in touch.

The council wants anyone who has not received a voting pack by the end of today to contact the elections office immediately. Cllr Ray Barrow, a Conservative candidate in Blackrod, was told by the election team to order a re-issue yesterday as 20 homes in Eskdale Avenue, Blackrod, where he lives, were still waiting for ballot papers.

He said: "People are being disenfranchised and they do not know what to do.

"We have been told by our postman that there are no more ballot papers to be delivered to Eskdale Avenue, so where are they?

"A lot of people are saying: 'If they can't get me a vote, then I won't bother voting'."

A council spokesman said there had only been isolated reports of ballot papers not arriving. Some were still in the system waiting to be delivered.

But delays have already led another Tory candidate, Cllr Alan Walsh, who is standing in the new Hulton ward, to threaten a legal challenge to the election. Town hall chiefs had originally claimed that all 200,000 ballot papers in Bolton would be with electors by last Saturday.

Around 8,500 completed votes had arrived at the town hall on Tuesday after postmen worked through the Bank Holiday weekend to cope with the extra load.

Leading Liberal Democrat Cllr David Wilkinson said there was a possibility that people were again refusing to sign ballot papers.

"Unfortunately, there is a significant minority of people who will not sign their voting slips," he said. "But they should realise the ballot is safe and return their forms signed and witnessed in the proper way."

The council spokesman said: "Even when we had ballot box voting, isolated cases would be reported to us by some people who had not received their polling cards."