Why hasn't the head of the Electoral Commission resigned?

[longfingernailspaintedblue]

Given the shameful scenes of people not being able to vote, and the utter failure to clamp down on fraudulent postal voting, surely it is time for the head of this quango (which costs more than £20m a year) to resign in disgrace?

[AMumInScotland]

I don't know about the postal voting, but there was a lady on the radio from the Electoral Commission explaining that even though they oversee the election, it is the Returning Officer in each ward who makes the practical arrangements about the number of staff, delaing with the queues, etc and the Electoral Commission has no power to do anything about it. She was saying they have reported problems in the past and implied that no-one had bothered to do anything about it - it would need a change in the law to change the arrangements. So, I don't think they are responsible for people not being able to vote.

[longfingernailspaintedblue]

Nonsense. What happened was a failure of leadership.

I too heard her; she sounded like a typical bureaucratic blameshifter.

Why do we need such an expensive Electoral Commission quango if it can't organize an election. We managed perfectly well for decades, with much higher turnouts, before...

[wannaBe]

what were they supposed to do though?

[claig]

for the same reason that Labour cabinet ministers never resigned, frankly none of them give a damn

[longfingernailspaintedblue]

claig

She had exactly the same pig-headed attitude that Labour ministers display.

In fact, I strongly suspect that most of the quangocrats are secret Labourites.

Over the last 13 years Labour has done a fantastic job getting its hooks into the various aspects of shadow governance, far away from the inconvenience of electoral accountability.

If the deficit wasn't enough, the need to disinfect the system of the worst excesses of Labourite thinking is yet another reason to stamp down hard on the quango state.

[TinaSparkles]

Quangos? I remember the fury that they caused in the early 1990's when studying politics.

Could swear it was the Tories in power at that time?

[longfingernailspaintedblue]

And there is no way on earth that it should cost £20m a year just to keep an eye on electoral boundaries. The basic rules and mechanisms of elections haven't changed for generations.

I am sure the "work" the Electoral Commission do could be done for a quarter of the cost.

[longfingernailspaintedblue]

TinaSparkles

Oh, I'm sure the ConDems will be just as bad as Labour.

Instead of Labour cronies, we will eventually get Conservative and Lib Dem cronies running the quangos.

However, as they are untainted by power for a long time, both the Tories and Lib Dems seem keener on scrapping and pruning quangos than Labour at the moment. Hopefully they seize the moment.

Not to mention the elephant in the room - the deficit. If people have to lose their jobs, I would much rather the axe fell on quangocrats than nurses and teachers.

[claig]

I haven't followed the news. Has anyone explained why there were not enough ballot papers at some polling stations? Has anyone even bothered to ask?

[RibenaBerry]

No one has explained because there was no good reason.

Nowhere has 100% turnout, so the authorities estimate the number they'll need and only print that many to save costs. This time, they got their estimates wrong (i.e. voter turnout went up more than they had allowed for).

Shambles. Our electoral system would shame a developing world country just starting out with elections...

[legoStuckinmyHoover]

going back a bit about quangos, I am just thinking that to scrap them all would be silly.

Lots of them do good work and use their expertise for research etc in order to best advice policy etc and ultimately our day to day lives.

Mp's just do not have that specialist knowledge in many cases but they do need to be well informed to their make decsions.

[claig]

thanks RibenaBerry, that is ridiculous. How much would it cost? We are supposed to be the Mother of all Democracies, instead we have become a laughing stock.

[longfingernailspaintedblue]

legoStuckinmyHoover

I am not saying scrap them all. I am saying that they should be less costly, more accountable, and less a tool for political infiltration of the shadow state.

Much more of what they do is not merely technocratic; it is politically contentious. All political functions should be transferred back to ministers.

And when quangos screw up the people in charge of them should resign.