not to approve of this Sunderland/Newcastle race to declare?

[manicinsomniac]

Surely this much haste means they're likely to make mistakes in the counting. Making a competition/game out of being first is ridiculous. What's the rush, surely accuracy is key for democracy?

Well unless they make a massive mistake it won't be a problem. It's unlikely to go down to ten votes difference.
They can always demand a recount if it is very close.

I thought that too! Its very strange

Yanbu surely accuracy is more important than spee!

it will be accurate too.

I don't know those constituencies but perhaps one party has a massive majority and they can double check for errors overnight and correct the figures without going anywhere close to impacting the result of their seat?

YANBU. I find it distasteful.

I don't have concerns about the accuracy, just the ... misplaced focus. They train and practise - why?! How is that a good use of resources?

Yanbu but apparently Sunderland have spent years working on improving procedures and have got coach loads of sixth formers in to help count and collect ballot boxes and what not. Sounds accurate but I don't get the urgency.

I thought the counters were volunteers, I don't think it costs anything for them to practice does it.

I don't see a problem with them trying to do it quickly, it can't be too hard to put the papers in the right pile

I live in the constituency known to declare first.....Tis the only thing we are famous for

Apparently it is practiced again and again to try and be the first. Not quite sure of the point of it!

The weigh labour votes by the kilo in Sunderland. It's not a
Marginal

Oh come on, how boring must counting be?

Guess it just gives them something to add a bit of interest. Most of the constituencies up here are not going to be surprise results, it needs something to add a bit of excitement to the whole thing and it's a bit of fun. What's the harm?

Well the Tory got 7,000 and labour got 21,000. To get that wrong they'd have to fuck up seriously.

It just adds a bit of fun.

They have already declared! Impressive!

To be fair with a majority like that they don't have to be terribly accurate

Yeah okay, fair enough. Wasn't exactly a marginal. Bit freaked out by the UKIP figure though!

Blimey OP I think you have to trust thrm tbh

Bloody hell look at the lib dem vote there!
The race thing does seem a bit distasteful, however as other have said, with a majority like that they would have had to have lost a few ballot boxes full of tory votes for the result to be wrong

Have you got nothing better to worry about?

Fil says it should take a few hours to get it right. He used to do the count for many years.

The UKIP candidate got more votes than the Tory candidate but the labour majority is very big.

Given that UKIP figure it will be interesting to see how they fare in the council elections, which are happening here as well.

7% swing to UKIP from Labour.

UKIP will gets lots of votes and I would imagine lots of local council seats

ladymariner - nope, nothing at all. Kids in bed and my entire night is now dedicated to analysing the election