ProCo rolls out 150,000 ballot packs for polls

Sheffield-based ProCo has produced 150,000 postal ballot packs for todays General Election, but has said that it cannot be treated as a commercial job.

The firm's DM department printed envelopes and declarations of identity for eight local councils in the Midlands, and handled assembly and distribution of around 60,000 packs.

Mike Hoyland, ProCo client service manager for DM, said that the need for accuracy, and the rigid production schedule, meant the work could not be compared to normal contracts.

 "You have to be careful, and we were very careful not to take on too much work," he said.

The packs were produced between 19 April, the deadline for candidates to come forward for the election, and 26 April, when voters had to have received their packs.

The local councils involved provided the ballot papers, while six of the eight councils chose to assemble the packs themselves.

l Smith & Ouzman in Eastbourne has printed more than 2m ballot papers for today's general election on its Delphax CR1300 printer.