Almost four out of ten people have voted in the all-postal election contest for Brighton and Hove.

Turnout in the city, at 39.99 per cent so far, has now exceeded the 37.9 per cent in the last city elections four years ago.

People who haven't yet voted are advised to drop their ballot papers off by hand at special delivery points in Brighton, Hove and Portslade Town Halls.

They are open today and tomorrow from 9am to 5pm.

The count will be held tomorrow at the Brighton Centre, starting at 9.30pm. People wanting to hear the results will be admitted to the Hewison Hall at the centre from 11pm.

Meanwhile, Labour is seeking legal advice over a complaint made by the Green Party over a letter sent to Labour activists.

The Argus revealed on Monday how the city's Labour leader Ken Bodfish had circulated a letter apparently admitting it had been given a sneak preview of the early returns in the all-postal ballot.

The letter, signed by Coun Bodfish but written by the party's election organiser Simon Burgess, said: "We have firm evidence of how voting is going. The first postal ballots are being opened and checked before the count next Thursday - during this administrative procedure we are able to 'sample' how people vote."

However, he later said he had not written the letter and said the "firm evidence" to which he referred to in print was, in fact, educated guesswork.

Simon Burgess, the party's election organiser, who admitted writing the letter, said the party could make predictions based on a certain level of turnout which was likely to favour certain parties from what had happened in the past.

Even though such information can be obtained legitimately under new pilot election guidelines, as election agents are allowed to check on the number of people who have returned votes so far, there has been complaints from other parties.

Green convenor Keith Taylor complained to the council there had been a gross abuse of the all-postal ballot.

A Labour source said: "We are seeking legal advice. This is such a serious accusation it must be considered further."

Liberal Democrat leader Paul Elgood said he was seeking legal advice from his party.

David Gold, who stood for the Tories in the general election two years ago in Brighton Pavilion, said: "There is already discomfort among voters the experiment with a 100 per cent postal ballot is open to abuse because there are insufficient checks on who is casting votes in whose names."

Socialist Alliance candidate David Newland said his party always had grave concerns about the all-postal ballot.