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Original poster

Polling stations question

30 replies

BringOnTheScience · 29/10/2019 22:55

What will happen if a regular polling station venue says "No, sorry, we're already booked for the 12th."?

Can venues be forced to be available as polling stations? Or are Portacabin hire firms about to make a fortune?!

OP posts:
Finfintytint · 29/10/2019 23:00

A school near us had to be closed in order to be a polling station because a yoga class refused to cancel their booking at the village hall.

SciFiRules · 29/10/2019 23:04

That yoga class is someones business!
Generally there are enough alternative venues.

itsabongthing · 29/10/2019 23:05

I thought they cancel other bookings eg. It’s a bit of a pain for our ballet teacher as she uses the village hall but classes can’t go ahead on election days.
Surely they reserve the right to cancel bookings. Am quite surprised that a whole school closed because of a yoga class at the village hall....

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SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing · 29/10/2019 23:05

Not at this time of year....

GetUpAgain · 29/10/2019 23:15

I know that schools don't get a choice, but when I was a school governor the school was paid £500 venue hire which seems rubbish when you think of all the parents losing a day pay/paying childcare.

I guess privately owned venues can tell them to jog on.

Original poster
BringOnTheScience · 29/10/2019 23:16

This is why I'm wondering. Our polling station has previously been either village hall or the church hall. I know for definite the church hall is booked for the school nativity on the 12th.

There must be lots of small villages where there isn't a choice of venue.

OP posts:
Frith2013 · 30/10/2019 01:04

They’ll just find a different venue.

You wouldn’t believe the district council meetings that have to take place tomorrow. (I’ve worked in elections since 1997).

hormonesorDHbeingadick · 30/10/2019 01:10

There is a bbc article about this, basically it says a lot of venues will already be booked up because it’s Christmas and they will need to find alternative venues

DappledThings · 30/10/2019 07:21

When did it become a thing that schools closed if they were polling stations? I was at Secondary school in the 90s and one of our halls was used but the school stayed open.

OtraCosaMariposa · 30/10/2019 07:22

Generally there are enough alternative venues

In towns and cities perhaps. Not in rural areas.

Sirzy · 30/10/2019 07:23

Our school is supposed to have two nativity play performances that day.

I imagine sadly things like that are going to end up being rearranged with no consideration of the impact

Pinkflipflop85 · 30/10/2019 07:26

@DappledThings

A lot of schools used as polling stations have to shut for safeguarding reasons. If the school has an area where people can come and go without crossing paths with the children (e.g. a gym in it's own building) then they can stay open.

Suxurblood2eatuthen · 30/10/2019 07:26

Our local junior school has been the polling station for years they shut it totally for voting days.

bloodredsky · 30/10/2019 07:29

@DappledThings lots of schools have one multi purpose hall/gym/canteen - I can't see how they could stay open with no canteen

Ohhellooooo · 30/10/2019 07:29

My DD’s school is always a polling station. Unless they can arrange additional security (not usually) they have to close for safeguarding. It’s a real pain

MustardScreams · 30/10/2019 07:33

I think a nativity can be missed for one year, I know it’s important to the children, but an election has way more impact than missing a play.

Maryann1975 · 30/10/2019 07:41

There must be lots of small villages where there isn't a choice of venue
We live in a town and apparently there are no other suitable venues for voting so they have to do it in our school. So that’s 300 parents inconvenienced for the day. From the ones I’ve spoken to, it’s going to be a real pain as they have booked all their leave for the year and the after school/holiday clubs also won’t be running because they work from the school/other buildings in the town that will be polling stations.

I appreciate the need for an election, but once again am really cross that no one can find an inspired thought for a different polling station that doesn’t mean 100s of dc get the day off school.

Captaindaddydog · 30/10/2019 07:47

My primary school was closed for polling days in the 70's. 12th December is enough notice to rearrange nativities taking place in school buildings although I can see it will more of an hassle if it is booked in an external hall.

Bimbleberries · 30/10/2019 07:58

There are so many people involved in running elections, all this admin and organising and so on - it must be a full time job now, suddenly, so I wonder what their jobs are the rest of the time? They must work for councils generally, but everything else gets suddenly put on the back burner or reallocated etc? Obviously there are busy times and less busy times with elections on a normal scale and you never know quite when they're coming, but it must still be hard to organise that work alongside other work.

cortex10 · 30/10/2019 08:05

Councils usually have a (very) small permanent team that manages elections and electoral registration - when an election happens they call on an army of trained people (often council employees but can be outsiders) to run the polling stations and the count. These staff get paid an allowance for their contribution ( subject to PAYE) and the council staff don't have to make the time up. For a district council it's a mammoth team effort. The government reimburse the council for the costs of running a general election.

Likethebattle · 30/10/2019 08:12

My primary school was the local polling station and the dinner hall was used so it was a day off as a kid which I loved.

SerendipityJane · 30/10/2019 08:52

When did it become a thing that schools closed if they were polling stations? I was at Secondary school in the 90s and one of our halls was used but the school stayed open.

But that was before the danger that a Bad Person might see a child.

AmIThough · 30/10/2019 08:56

@DappledThings I started primary school in 2000 and they definitely closed for voting days then.

Do teachers get an additional days paid leave? I'd assume so but does anyone know?

SleepingStandingUp · 30/10/2019 08:58

Our school is used but stays open, by a fluke of layout. There's a decent sized room off reception which can be locked on the far side which is used for music lessons etc. Door through to school main is electronically controlled by Reception. Other entrances are secured by padlocked gate.

At some point the kids must realise they're the only ones who don't get the day off....

ChicCauldron · 30/10/2019 09:11

One of my old primarys used to shut completely for elections. I've also come across one, like Sleeping, that could stay open by having a specific path and entrance for voters.

The village hall is used where I live, despite the public transport links being a good 5 or 10 mins walk away (I thought access via public transport was a consideration) and when a snap election was called and the hall was out of use due to building works, it had to be held in a small club house next door resulting in queues!

On the other thread about the possibility of a December election, there were people on there saying schools can't refuse to act as a polling station. My DD's primary was a large one, all the children were in the Christmas play at infant stage and it ran over many days - it's not a case of just doing it the next day, that day was already booked!

The postal strike is going to make things interesting if it is a close-run thing though - I expect to hear claims of missing votes.