ELECTION vote counts could be plunged into chaos as untried electronic ballot checks are rolled out across Hampshire.

Councils have for the first time put back counts until the day after the local elections on May 3 because of the new rules to combat fraud.

Election chiefs say a law which requires all postal votes are checked has created a logistical nightmare that means a count on the night is too tricky.

However there are concerns over whether new computer scanning to verify the postal votes will work.

It could cause further delays with each council having to check thousands of ballots by hand before counting them.

Winchester City Council, Test Valley Borough Council and New Forest District Council have all opted to start their counts at 9am on Friday, May 4, with the results expected in the afternoon.

They also have to collect and count ballots from dispersed parish and town council elections.

Southampton City Council and Eastleigh Borough Council will hold traditional overnight counts with results expected by 1am.

An election official at Test Valley Borough Council told the Daily Echo: "The new legislation has put a duty on us to check all personal identifiers and the time and resources in that means it's extremely difficult to do every one on Thursday night."

The council has already received about 10,000 applications for postal votes which can now be handed in on election day.

Under the Election Administration Act 2006, signatures and dates of birth have to be provided on postal vote applications.

Electoral administrators are then required to check at least one fifth of the applications against the returned postal voting statements.

There are various software systems in use across the country to register and check votes. Hampshire councils are using a software package called eXpress from Stroud based Xpress Software Solutions.

Company director Nick Crump told the Daily Echo he was confident his product worked.

"We've tested it and all the tests have been concluded successfully but there haven't been any pilots of this in a semi-live environment because the requirement was only introduced at the end of last year."

Mr Crump said other factors such as postal vote application forms being filled in wrongly could result in problems.