About London Elects

About London Elects

London Elects is the independent team that organises the Mayor of London and the London Assembly elections. This includes everything from designing and printing the ballot papers, managing the counting of votes, to delivering a public awareness campaign to tell Londoners about the election and how they can vote.

While part of the Greater London Authority (GLA), London Elects is politically impartial and operationally independent. It works directly for the Greater London Returning Officer and has a separate budget and reporting lines from other GLA staff.

Greater London Returning Officer (GLRO)

The GLRO for the 2012 elections, which take place on Thursday 3rd May 2012, is John Bennett. John is also Head of Special Projects and Elections at the GLA and as such is the Head of London Elects. As GLRO, he has overall responsibility for delivering the elections and count for the Mayor and Assembly elections.

On Friday 4th May 2012, he will collate the votes from across London for the Mayoral and London-wide Assembly Members election. He will announce the result of these contests from City Hall. The London Assembly Constituency Members election results are announced by Constituency Returning Officers.

The London Elects Operations Team

The Operations Team is responsible for the planning and coordination of all logistical aspects of the elections, and works closely with electoral services staff in all London's 32 boroughs to do this. The Elections Operations Manager at the GLA, and Deputy GLRO, is Keith Hathaway.

The team provides training and support for polling station staff and manages candidate nominations for the Mayoral election and the London-wide candidates for the London Assembly election. The operations team also organises arrangements for the count, and manages the e-counting contract with our supplier, IntElect.

The London Elects Communications Team

The Communications Team ensures information is made available to voters, candidates and political parties, the media and other stakeholders in a straight-forward and timely way. The Elections Communications Manager at the GLA is Sarah Garrett. Read more about our public awareness campaign.