To think closing schools for polling in this day and age is unacceptable

[sharonthewaspandthewineywall]

There are loads of polling stations by me, yet they close the school. Again. However if I wanted to take my kids to the seaside for the day i'd be lectured about their education being more important. Also people can do an online vote.

Agree. I still went to school on voting day and it wasnt that many years ago. just had to take packed lunch because hall was out of bounds. But i think schools might be taking childrens safety more seriously now.

Between school head with governors and parents doing a Petition to councillors- and very close local church agreeing to their hall being used my DC School managed to stop being used as one only a few years ago.

So its possible to change - as few others have said.

"A friend told me opened her church hall at about 5am yesterday for elections. Could she have been exagerating then?"

Well, the polling staff working there will normally arrive between 6.15 and 6.30 and the building should already be open and have the polling booths in by then - I think 6 am should be early enough - unless there's stuff to clear up from any events/meetings the previous evening.

Btw, lots of the other buildings that people suggest (churches, community centres etc) are used for elections so it's not the case that alternatives aren't considered.

Weekend voting makes a lot of sense, best suggestion I've heard.

bette - She may have been tidying up from something the night before then. I know they are busy, but rely on volunteers.

I have never understood why we don't vote on a Sunday rather than Thursday (like most of Europe). And I always seems very odd to close schools - surely there must be somewhere else ?

You do have to be careful about posters, documents and literature in a polling station. One year we had Edward Bear of the Teddy Bear Alliance standing. Our polling station was in a school, so we felt it only fair that we remove the copy of Goldilocks and the Three Bears from the library book display.

To the poster that was talking about caravans...

I worked at a polling station yesterday, you need to be at venue for 6:15 for 7am opening of polling station. The station doesn't close until 10pm.

There needs to be space enough in the polling station for people to be able to vote in secret and plenty of space for a the equipment and ballot box etc.

It's a really long day for polling staff so we definitely need tea making facilities, toilers etc. the more facilities the better.

I think they should use community centres or libraries for polling stations. I worked the election yesterday and we had 37 people in all day. Seemed such a waste for that. All of the teachers were in though, working away, so they didn't get the time off.
Someone above suggested portacabins - really?! Would you like to spend 15.5 hrs sitting in a portacabin?! Don't think so! If I had been given a portacabin for the day I would have pulled out.

They used to this in our area but not any more. Our polling station was in a church hall and we've even used the hall at the local golf club

Would you like to spend 15.5 hrs sitting in a portacabin?!

I wouldn't want to spend 15.5 hrs sitting in a school hall. A porta cabin is really no different to an ordinary room.

Our polling station was changed this year, from the local primary school in the middle of the housing estate, to a church hall half a mile away. Fine on paper, but I'm not sure it was great for turnout. I reckon only me, DH and the pensioners normally bother to vote at all. The church hall is half a mile away down a steep hill off the bus route, and believe me, the way back up is even steeper. I went to vote pretty late, and the turnout had been even more spectacularly dismal than usual.

If said Portacabin had a proper flushing loo (or two) and mains water supply, electricity connected etc.

Otherwise it's not much better than a shipping container.

My polling station is a community centre. Looking forward to visiting again in September.

We just hold our elections on a Saturday.

There is often a school fête, cake stall and at the very least a sausage sizzle.

I rather enjoy an election.

It blows my mind that people don't vote.

I know it would be the same here if it wasn't compulsory but I just can't get my head around it.

I totally agree. I went to vote at my sons school which was shut and I walked passed the council owned sports centre which has three gym halls inside. Could they not have closed that for the day? Apart from the actual gym the only things that were on were Weight Watchers in the morning and a fitness class in tbe evening. Slightly less important than missing a days schooling for 300 kids and a days work for say 150 parents.

I always thought it was to do with cost, so council owned buildings would be used in preference to ones where a fee would need to be paid, such as Church halls. Maybe I got that wrong.
Here the town is divided into two wards.One ward votes in the community hal so the three schools are open, the other ward votes in the fourth school, which is shut.

I don't understand why they need so many polling stations. Our school is shut to be used for one, and there's another literally 50 yards away.

All of our local schools were open, the polling stations were a church halls, a portakabin and a scout hut. No need for any schools to close.

At least our school used it as an inset day and killed two birds with one stone.

Yes, our council is C*P, and shows us in many ways that it doesn't give a toss about children.

I suppose things differ a lot around the different areas. Eg in N Ireland councils have no connection to schools, they don't own the buildings or exert any control over schools so it's nothing to do with the cost of using the buildings here.