BBC mistakenly showed an independent candidate receiving only one vote in the UK parliamentary election

Context

Social media users on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) have shared a screenshot of an on-screen error showing that an independent candidate only got one vote in the U.K. parliamentary election. Captions like “Poor Emma!” and "Emma Wall, my General Election hero of the night” accompanied the posts.

However, this claim is misleading. Independent candidate Emma Lucy Wall actually received 1,833 votes.

In fact

The BBC broadcast the U.K. general election votes being announced early on July 5. At 5:38 a.m., the Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven constituency results were revealed. 

Jess Gibbons, chief executive of Brighton and Hove City Council, verbally announced the correct number of votes for each candidate. However, an on-screen chart (3:41:03) displayed inaccurate information for two candidates. 

The chart incorrectly showed that Emma Lucy Wall, an independent candidate, received only one vote. Additionally, Green Party candidate Elaine Hills was shown to have received seven votes when, in fact, she garnered 7,797 votes.

While Hills' result was swiftly corrected in the on-screen chart, the chart disappeared before Emma Wall's result could be corrected.

As a result, some online users shared screenshots of the graphic, falsely claiming that the independent candidate only got one vote in the election. 

The correct results are available on the Brighton and Hove City Council website and on the BBC, confirming that Emma Lucy Wall received 1,833 votes in the Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven constituency.

Reuters also fact-checked this incident and confirmed the correct vote count for Emma Lucy Wall.

The verdict

The chart broadcast on the BBC displayed misleading vote counts. Independent Emma Lucy Wall got 1,833 votes, not one as initially shown. Therefore, we have marked the claim as misleading.