Voters turned away at polling stations (UK)

[Patsy Stone]

Source: Yahoo UK

By Sam Dale

Voters are being turned away from polling stations after queuing for hours, according to reports. Polls closed at 22:00 BST but there appears to have been a mixed reaction to latecomers.

In Birmingham an acting returning officer reportedly kept polls open to accommodate the public.

Meanwhile, voters in Manchester Withington, Leeds and Hackney are reported to have been turned away after queuing for up to three hours.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Harriet Harman claimed there could be "legal challenge" by voters.

Read more: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/14/20100506/tpl-voters-turned-away-at-polling-statio-81c5b50.html

[and-justice-for-all]

1. Oh that is not good....nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. How interesting...almost as if election tricks were catching on across the globe.

[Dappleganger]

3. From what's being reported on BBC

there are HUGE turnouts and clearly officials were not prepared to deal with the numbers. It's easy to appreciate the denied voters' frustration because this is such a hot election.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Huge turnouts

of people voting late in the evening without their polling cards/numbers. In the absense of proof of address they have to be at least verified on the full electoral register. The moral is to take the correct info so's delays don't build up or use postal vote. The frustration lay with those stuck in the queue that did have their info with them.

[defendandprotect]

10. Agree . . .

[karynnj]

4. Shades of 2004 - suppression by long lines

[dipsydoodle]

6. Not at all the same

in any shape or form.

[Patsy Stone]

7. Here's the BBC's link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/england/8666457.stm

In Liverpool, voters were left waiting to vote at one polling station after it ran out of ballot papers.

Officials at the Dunbabin Road station in the Wavertree constituency had to send for more.

Three-hour queues were seen in Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's constituency of Sheffield Hallam, prompting him to apologise to voters.

Police were called to polling stations in Ranmoor and Woodseats in Sheffield to move voters who were refusing to leave.

[alp227]

8. The UK at least has follow-up elections in these events:

The Times of London reported:

Election chiefs told The Times that the widespread failures to deal with high voter turnout may lead to by-elections in the next few weeks, which could be critical to the outcome of the election. The Electoral Commission, the election watchdog, last night announced an investigation into the problems.

Unlike all those in Ohio who couldn't vote in 2004.

Oh, and one district in the UK had its election delayed to the 27th because one of its candidates died.

[defendandprotect]

9. Are they also all voting on computers?

And are they also getting computer projections from their media --

"predicting" and "calling" elections, candidates?

[Patsy Stone]

11. Nope

HCPB. One exit poll, as far as I can tell.

[defendandprotect]

12. What are they voting on . . . paper? Glad to hear no computers!

[Patsy Stone]

14. Yep

And hundreds of people count them. In fact, they've already had a couple of on the spot recounts, and they're still counting. It's a beautiful thing, except when you don't have enough ballots.

[defendandprotect]

20. Congratulations -- just as important in the counting as the voting ... no computers!!

We should be so lucky!!

I'm sorry Liberals didn't do better -- I think they said this is the 100th increase

for the Conservatives? Would be happier if they weren't moving to the right -- just

as I'll be happier if we stay to the left!

:)

Thanks for the info!

[ClarkUSA]

13. Those are all Labour areas. I wonder if the officers were Tories. n/t

[Endangered Specie]

15. in the UK, Polling Stations close at x time regardless of whose in line...

as opposed to here, when the poles close at x time people in line before closing time still get to vote.

[T_i_B]

16. My home town of Sheffield got shafted quite badly for this

It involves Ranmoor Halls of Residence, where my dad worked as a caretaker in the 70's. If he were alive today he would be livid at how Sheffield is turning itself into a bannana republic.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=121206334573223

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/ELECTION-Hundreds-unable-to-vote.6279282.jp

Given that these problems have affected Sheffield Central, where Labour only won by 165 votes, and the problems were worse in the Lib Dem areas of the constituency I am afraid to say that I will not consider Paul Blomfield to be a legitimate member of parliament until the election is re-run.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Yes, that sounds like one that needs a court-enforced rerun

Other possible problems : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/from-newcastle-to-hackney-chaos-reigned-at-polling-stations-1965663.html

[T_i_B]

18. I totally agree

Other places where that looks an appropriate course of action are Chester and York.

This was also a problem in Ealing, Manchester and Leeds.

[Taverner]

19. Wow they really are learning from us! Lemme guess...Brixton Polls, right?

[dipsydoodle]

25. Doesn't relate

to what happened your side where the issue in many instances was whether or not someone was even on the register at all.

[Taverner]

29. Hmmmm I mean there were Republican "Poll Watchers" directly turning away Kerry and Gore voters

Obama - shit, they got their ASS kicked for trying to disenfranchise!

[Judi Lynn]

21. Hundreds of British voters were reportedly turned away

Source: Washington Post

Hundreds of British voters were reportedly turned away
By Karla Adam
Friday, May 7, 2010; 7:47 PM

LONDON -- Arriving at her polling station an hour and a half before it closed at 10 p.m., Samantha Shore thought her only problem Thursday night would be boredom.

"I should have brought a book," Shore, 26, recalled thinking as she sized up the line.

But the line moved slowly, and at 10 p.m., an official told her she could not vote because she did not have a ballot in her hand.

"I was appalled. You don't expect this to happen in your life," said Shore, who works in publishing. She estimated that more than 200 people were turned away from her station. Some voters started to shout and jeer, she said, and a few announced they would stage a sit in. Half a dozen police officers were called in.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/07/AR2010050704786.html

[dipsydoodle]

22. It takes only seconds

to verify someone who has bothered to take their ballot # - it may take ages to verify someone without that number using the full electoral register. She also had the prior option of mailing it before hand anyway. The big queues were apparently caused by multiple instances of those not have their slips.

I'm wondering if in future they'll have two queues - one for those that bothered and one for those like her who thinks the system should meet HER demands.

There is nothing iffy about out electoral registers which are sent out for completion every October to each and every address within an area. Showing on the register has been a requirement in living memory here for most credit applications too as it help provides proof of address.

I have no sympathy for her whatsoever.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. She turned up an hour and a half before the close

and there's nothing in the story that says she didn't have her polling card, or that there was anything wrong with the way she was registered. She just queued for 90 minutes, and still didn't get a ballot.

You are blaming her without any evidence whatsoever.

I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes to vote. Perhaps I manage to go at less popular times, usually (on Thursday, I voted about 8:45 am, and didn't have to queue at all), but I've voted in the early evening too, and my stations have never been that busy. I've never heard of queues that long before in British polling stations - turning up at 8:30 pm seems perfectly reasonable to me. Her 'demands' are to be able to queue less than 90 minutes to vote.

[dipsydoodle]

24. It said

"she did not have a ballot in her hand." which I took as meaning she didn't have it with her at all given it would only have taken a second to get it out her pocket, handbag , knickers ,whatever.

Nothing changes the fact that the overall fault seemed to lie with those who needed lengthy verification. As I said - the simple answer to that is two queues and just let those who couldn't be bothered with slip to fuck themselves and not inconvenience others.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. The ballot is the piece of paper they give you at the station, on which you put your 'X'

and the law says that those who have been handed their ballot before 10pm are allowed to vote; after 10pm, ballots cannot be given out. What people take with them to the station is the 'poll card'. And it says on it:

"This card is for your information only. You can vote without it, but it will save you time if you take it to the polling station and show it to the clerk there.

When you go to the polling station, tell the clerk your name and address, as shown on the front of the card.

The clerk will confirm your details on the register."

So not only do I have a lot of sympathy for this woman, who, for all we know, had her poll card with her, I have sympathy with those who didn't take their poll card, because it doesn't make it sound like anything more than a convenience. It doesn't even say "please take it with you, because it saves a lot of time for everyone". Frankly, looking up a name and address on the register should only take another 10 seconds or so. With 50,000 polling stations, I doubt many stations have more than 1,500 potential voters. If it takes a clerk 20 seconds per voter, that's 180 per hour per clerk. I think they must really have economised on the number of clerks they had, in the affected stations.

[dipsydoodle]

27. I'd misintepreted that bit

but it don't the fact that under the current Electoral Rules she couldn't have voted without that slip at that time. Change the rules by all means.

With regard to the poll card - yes you don't have to take it but it speeds up things considerably if you do so. And yes - looking up an addresses don't take light years and its a doddle if there is only one or two registered to vote at that address and you can prove identity because without proof any sod could vote. In Sheffield some of the addresses given by students living in multiple tenancies proved difficult to locate and I'm sure the same happened elsewhere. I'm guessing some may have problems proving identity too given that most wouldn't have had a utility bill in their own name and address and may also not have had the alternative of a current driving licences at the address they gave.

As I said - simplest thing would be two queues with one for those easily identifiable and on for those not so. Not that hard to manage surely ? Other than I'll assume that those who that had difficulty will, if they've got half a brain, vote by post next time. The unfairness here was to those who played the game only to be defeated by those who didn't take enough care.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. The thing is, it doesn't say "you must prove your identity if you don't have this card"

And the Electoral Commission says nothing about proving what your address or identity is either.

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/faq/voting-and-registration/lost-or-forgotten-polling-card

Tell the staff inside the polling station your name and address so they can check that you are on the electoral register. You can show them your poll card, but you do not need it to vote.

http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/how_do_i_vote/voting_in_person.aspx

Frankly, if the clerks anywhere were asking for proof of address, or identity, they were doing it incorrectly, and causing holdups. The system is actually designed to run purely on trust. There is nothing that ever tells a voter to 'take care'.

If you claim to be someone who their records show has already voted, then they have problems that will involve proving identity (and finding the vote already cast in your name). Or if there were a lot of people turning up who had never registered, but thought they had a right to vote, that could cause delays.