SOME people might moan that too many leaflets come through their door at election time and would welcome any reduction in the volume of mail.

Posters seem to appear everywhere, although we haven't quite reached the all-encompassing circus atmosphere of elections in the United States.

The reality is that we have a system which carefully monitors how much money candidates can spend on election expenses. Every penny has to be accounted for. The idea is that every candidate has an equal chance to make an impact with their publicity literature on each voter.

So it is bound to be galling to candidates when they discover that their election leaflets have not been delivered in time or to the correct voters. Their anger is understandable especially, as the Electoral Reform Society points out, when there have been no boundary changes for the Royal Mail to blame.

And it is easy to see how that anger is magnified when all the mix-ups seem to have happened to one political party.

As Janet Anderson insists, people in Haslingden are already confused at why they have to vote in Hyndburn for local government purposes while Rossendale and Darwen is their parliamentary constituency.

In the Wilpshire area, which is in the Ribble Valley seat, the Royal Mail has also admitted that 500 leaflets for the Blackburn candidate were delivered "by mistake."

The Royal Mail is obliged to deliver election addresses within four working days of leaflets arriving with them. If, as it appears, they have failed in this obligation it is not good enough to merely pass off the failure as "human error." The candidates and the public deserve a full explanation and assurances that steps have been taken to ensure such important material is not lost or incorrectly delivered again.