So those people sitting outside the Polling station...

No they bloody well don't cover 'this stuff' in school! Don't you dare suggest people are ignorant for not knowing about it, that's utterly disengenuous! I find your assumptions staggering, frankly.

This whole idea of 'tellers' is taking advantage of the reasonable assumption that a person stood outside a polling station asking to see your polling card is a neutral official.

I don't find them upsetting; I just find the role itself devious.

As I said before, I wouldn't have nearly as much of an issue with them if they made it very clear who they were and whom they represented - if they approached you with "Good morning, Madam, I'm Phil and I represent Lisa Jones, the Conservative candidate. Could I ask if you would mind sharing your voter number with me, please?

That would be much more honest and transparent, but for some reason, they never seem to feel the need to do that...

Just because you desperately want people to give you something that might benefit you, that in no way entitles you to assume that you can have it.

Just been to vote, the lady outside asked for my voting number and I politely declined only to be berated by the man in front of me in the queue for not giving it to her!

Your mum...

Tellers at polling stations are nothing new, I used to help my Dad out in the 70s when he was a local councillor. I wasn't allowed to do the actual asking (too young), it was my job to periodically collect sheets from polling stations and take them back to the party committee room. As I recall, it was all very amiable between the parties and hardly any voters minded. People would only be knocked up if they were known supporters for the party, but this was a useful way of checking if for example elderly Mrs Smith from No'22 wanted a lift to the polling station.

I find the paranoia and ignorance of the voting process and what's allowed absolutely staggering. As for those flinging GDPR around... good grief. Don't they cover this stuff in secondary school?

You don't have to tell anyone anything. Tellers can ask your voter ID. It's not for nefarious purposes. It's perfectly legal and it's about rallying local votes.

It is also not campaigning. I think it's actually a good thing; the data is used for encouraging people to use their vote rather than be apathetic. A political party offering a lift to the polling station has no right to your vote, nor do you need to tell them which way you voted.

never forget this:

https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-candidates-and-agents-uk-parliamentary-elections-great-britain/polling-day/who-can-support-you-polling-day/maintaining-secrecy-ballot

The people outside are all affiliated with parties and want to know who has voted so they maximise their turn out.

How it works is like this:

well prior to elections, party representatives go door to door to find out who supports them ('canvassing'). It's not really canvassing because they don't hope to persuade you. they want to know if you are on their team, against their team or undecided.

if you are marked as on the team either because you answer the door and tell them or because you are a party supporter/member, they want to check their team members have actually voted.

if this exercise shows little old Mrs Jones at 20 Acacia Avenue is a supporter and hasn't voted, they may very well go and knock on her door and offer to drive her to the polling station

They are there to tick you off their list of people who indicated that they would vote for their party. Later in the day if someone has indicated they would vote for them but haven't turned up then they'll go and offer to give that person a lift to the polling station. They are not asking who you voted for, just who you are. Obviously you are perfectly entitled not to tell them.

They really annoy me and IMO it shouldn't be allowed. We always have them. Today it was a Lib Dem who advanced upon me with "can I just see the information on your poll card"
I said "are you an official of the polling station?" She said "no" and I walked on and told my family she wasn't official. As others have said they get information by giving the impression they are official. I saw people digging in their bags to show her ID.

Then I looked a right idiot because the next person who popped up and said "can I see your poll card" I barked "Are you official?" And walked on. Turned out he was an actual poll clerk trying to streamline his queue. He ran after me and showed me his pass

Polls indicate my constituency is very close Labour-Tory, Lib Dems are expected to get about 15% so I can't imagine what good the data will even do them. Their candidate lives 30 miles away where they are a councillor in a different county!

People have complained in my area so this year there was a gentleman on the outside telling me which side to go to on the inside and said a lady inside will ask for your details you don't have to tell her "she isn't one of us" 😂

I doubt anyone will be knocking on my door.

The two canvassers who did call in the last fortnight I told to fuck off that I wouldn't be voting for them and why. And told one that I'd voted for his party for 40 years but no more. I hope they made notes not to call again.

It was tellers and Bounty reps I was comparing. You're right, giving birth is nothing like voting.

If they knock on my door later (they didn't get my number) they'll be told it's none of their business 🤷🏻‍♀️

@ArabellaScott I find it hard to compare the process of voting with a traumatic birth

Ha love this. Guerilla tactics 🤣

@sabadoo

perhaps if THEY introduced themselves instead of pretending they're there as part of the actual voting process they'd get a better response.

having some bloke step in front of me at the door saying 'Have you got your voter ID' in an agressive manner didn't exactly bring out the best in me. I said 'yes' (tersely),rolled my eyes & he said 'go in then' I was // this close to telling him if he hadn't rudely got in my way, I would have been in by now.

aggressive fucking toss pot!!

& that's coming from someone who happily talks to anyone, just not when they step in front of me in a doorway, stopping me entering with NO right to do so.

Funnily enough we've just had a SNP lady knock at the door asking if my husband had voted yet as they hadn't seen him down at the polling station.

She was perfectly pleasant, I guess they are expecting that the seat will be hotly contested and they are trying to drum up support. Might be scraping the barrel a bit though, DH isn't a SNP member and hasn't ever said that he's voted SNP.

Ps I don’t dress smartly to be a teller 😂 usually leggings and a sweatshirt with a coat, it’s been cold in May too many times to consider dressing anything other than practically!

I’ve been a teller a few times before, have a couple of family member who have stood quite a bit over the years.
I enjoy it tbh, I’m identifiable with my rosette and am polite when asking for polling numbers, most give them no bother and the few that don’t either don’t have their cards or just don’t want to share. Mostly it’s because they are suspicious that we can see who they are voting for (impossible 😂😂😂). We aren’t allowed to go inside the building and check the official clerks list, it’s just a volunteer role for making sure that anyone who was expected to come and vote (because they had previously indicated they were a supporter and would be voting) has turned up or whether they might need ringing and reminding. No one will be turning up knocking on your door if you haven’t voted unless the party was expecting you to vote as you’d indicated your wish to do so previously.
I only ever do an hour or two after work; people are generally very kind and some will offer a tea or coffee if it’s cold (I don’t drink either but it’s always appreciated as a good gesture).
I’m not doing it today but I gave my number to the one teller who was sitting at my local polling station! It’s no skin off my nose.

It's giving me Bounty vibes.

Turn up to new mothers a couple of hours after traumatic birth, with a clipboard and brisk attitude, demand all your data, and then fuck off and sell it.

Ours don’t ask who you’re voting for.

Sounds mildly threatening.

I have just been to vote. The woman sitting at the door was someone I know, a former fellow school mum. Her rosette suggested she supports a different party to me but she's nice, we had a quick chat about our grown up children and that was about it.

No drama, no awkward questions.

We don't usually get canvassers here becuase it's heavily Tory ward in what is usually an ultra safe seat. Boundary changes, the current turmoil and the relatively well known incumbent stepping down mean Labour have an outside shout.

When we have had them they've been rosetted up say which party they're from and ask 'can we rely on your support'. I think, when it was a Tory in Watford, I managed not to tell him I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire...

Can't remember if it was 64 or 66 when the Labour guy knocked on our door. He turned out to be someone my Mum had been at school with before/during the war and they had a bit of a chin wag. The gent concerned was actually quite prominent in the City's local government being the Lord Mayor for a year.

Died a couple of years ago well into his nineties.

So do you make it perfectly clear to people when you approach them - dressed smartly at the door to a polling station - that they absolutely don't have to give you their number?

Wanting to have your privacy respected and not be hassled for personal information by third parties when you're going to take part in a secret ballot does not make you into a conspiracy theorist.

If you think it does, state your real name and address in this thread - because they're already on the electoral roll, aren't they...?!