New MP praises polling station staff (From Swindon Advertiser)
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New MP praises polling station staff
10:10am Saturday 8th May 2010 in
NEW North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson has praised the election staff at the Tawny Owl and other polling stations for helping as many people as possible to vote.
However, both he and South Swindon colleague Robert Buckland believe it’s time to change polling station procedures to allow for the fact that so many people vote after work rather than during the day.
Mr Tomlinson said: “The polling station had a queue out to the end of the car park, and it was taking approximately 20 minutes to get to the front of that queue.
“The staff were fantastic – they said that anybody who was in the queue before ten could vote.
“They worked extremely hard throughout the day to get people through.”
He added: “The whole priority now is to look at the process of voting. There has been a shift, and most families are now families with two members working.
“We have to acknowledge that society will now vote predominantly between the hours of five and ten.”
Mr Tomlinson pledged that he and Mr Buckland would pass on details of voters’ experiences in Swindon to the bodies in charge of considering changes.
Mr Buckland agreed that there should be more staff at peak times, but added that it was important to acknowledge the hard work of the returning officer and polling station staff in Swindon.
Comments(6)
Home Boy
says...
1:10pm Sat 8 May 10
.
I'm pretty sure that's illegal if they haven't already signed in, the risk being that voters could be swayed by the exit poll results before even casting their vote. If this is likely to be a problem in future can't we have a system where the queues are closed at 10pm and the exit polls aren't released until every polling station around the country confirms that their polling is finished?
Home Boy
says...
1:11pm Sat 8 May 10
The Real Librarian
says...
2:39pm Sat 8 May 10
Home Boy wrote:The exit poll is the reason why voting stops at 10 pm.
“The staff were fantastic – they said that anybody who was in the queue before ten could vote." . I'm pretty sure that's illegal if they haven't already signed in, the risk being that voters could be swayed by the exit poll results before even casting their vote. If this is likely to be a problem in future can't we have a system where the queues are closed at 10pm and the exit polls aren't released until every polling station around the country confirms that their polling is finished?
.
There is a media embargo through the day while the polls are open. No-one is allowed to report how any party is doing. That runs out at 10 pm in full expectation that the voting stops too.
.
The Polling Station Handbook is quite clear about the rules and the law. If you have been issued with a ballot before 10 pm you may use it. If you haven't then you just don't get one.
.
If ballots have been issued after 10 pm it calls the legallity of the resul into question. I am sure those stations were trying to be helpful, but they were wrong to carry on
Grimly Feendish
says...
5:56pm Sat 8 May 10
Wrong Tomlinson, This was an illegal vote.As has been said the rules are quite clear - NO VOTES after 10pm. This vote NEEDS to be re-run. Adver you need to investigate this!!!
Confirmation words :- okay-lazy
Grimly Feendish
says...
6:17pm Sat 8 May 10
Wrong Tomlinson, This was an illegal vote.As has been said the rules are quite clear - NO VOTES after 10pm. This vote NEEDS to be re-run. Adver you need to investigate this!!!
Confirmation words :- okay-lazy
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Bobfm says...
10:55am Sat 8 May 10
What is also clearly is that lots of people turned up without voting cards, which then probably adds 30 seconds to a minute to each voter, where as with a card it takes 10 to 15 seconds.
So there are a lot of questions, but given turnouts in years gone by were 85/90%, I think the system should be able to cope with 65%.
It also does seem in lots of areas people have come out late on mass, perhaps something else that needs to be looked at.
As for sleepy old South Marston, no trouble at all.