POSTMEN are working overtime to make sure every ballot paper is returned on time for the council and euro-elections on June 10.

Royal Mail workers will carry out special collections on Bank Holiday Monday, with town hall chiefs expecting a large proportion of voting papers to be returned in the first few days of the postal ballot.

Postboxes will be checked regularly to prevent them overflowing or becoming jammed with mountains of returned ballot forms.

The first of 200,000 voting packs were delivered in Bolton on Tuesday. Postmen are now on red alert to collect the envelopes -- marked with a distinctive purple flash --once they are completed by voters.

To ease the strain on postmen and postwomen, some promotional mail drops for major companies have been delayed until after the ballot.

Steven Blyth, the council's election officer, said figures showed around 35 per cent of the total votes cast were returned within the first few days when postal voting was first used in Bolton last year.

He said: "The votes tended to follow a pattern of peaks and troughs. After a rush at the start, there was a lull for a few days prior to another surge before the deadline."

He said the town hall had received just 60 per cent of the total votes cast, four days before the election day last year.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We have put in place a dedicated team to ensure the process runs smoothly.

"We have developed robust plans following discussions with the Electoral Commission, local authorities and political parties."

"We welcome this opportunity and are confident our experience in handling large mailings, such as previous postal voting trials and the Census in 2000, will ensure we can fulfil our part in the electoral process."