CONCERNS still remain in York about new ways of recording votes - even though councils which used all-postal voting at last week's local elections saw a higher turnout than that experienced in the city.

Local authorities which used all-postal voting last Thursday saw turnout rise to an average of 50 per cent - compared to York's 36 per cent turnout.

The rise affected local authorities such as Doncaster, piloting an all-postal voting scheme. It compares to only a third of the electorate visiting the ballot box across England as a whole. The proportion of York's 145,000-strong electorate who did make their mark on Thursday included nearly 9,000 postal voters.

Last year, a scheme was put forward to give everybody a postal vote, replacing polling booths, in an effort to increase the number of York residents voting.

But the initiative was opposed by Liberal Democrats and Conservatives on City of York Council's strategic policy panel, who were concerned about security. The new leader of the council, the Liberal Democrats' Coun Steve Galloway, said: "Our concerns are for security. We are concerned the postal votes in some areas at least were simply delivered to an address with a name on. There were no verification arrangements or independent witness to what they were doing. In some areas mail was delivered to communal areas and anyone could have gone in and scooped up several ballot papers and sent them back.

"We recognise we should make voting as easy as possible. In York, this time nearly 10,000 people voted by post compared with 2,000 four years ago. We think the solution is to encourage more people to register for a postal vote, but also have security set in place."

Under an all-postal voting scheme, Doncaster saw its turnout rocket from 29 per cent to 47.03 per cent - an increase of 18.03 per cent. Rotherham soared from 27 per cent to 51.20 per cent - an increase of 24.20 per cent. Sheffield piloted voting methods including text message and internet voting. The results are yet to be confirmed. Elizabeth Ellis, City of York Council's electoral and civic services manager, said she hoped all-postal voting would continue to be assessed. She said: "I am sure it will be an ongoing thing. The take-up of postal votes this time was very good."

Harold Mosley, chief executive and returning officer at Ryedale District Council, said: "All-postal voting will only be considered when the results of the experiments that have taken place this time are known, but it is up to the councillors to make the decision in the future."

Updated: 10:28 Wednesday, May 07, 2003