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Original poster

To complain DD has been denied a vote in Cambridge?

146 replies

Novote · 11/12/2019 13:13

NC'd to avoid outing.
DD is at uni in Cambridge- she is on the electoral roll in Cambridge (not here at home) and applied for a postal vote before the deadline as she is now back home for the holidays.
No postal ballot arrived. She phone Cambridge council who said it was not actioned and they can't find the e-mail.
She has shown me the e-mail (with scanned form attachment) - it was indeed sent before the deadline and must have arrived as it was in the 'sent' folder and she did not receive a 'delivery failure' e-mail.

Cambridge City Council has been having intermittent e-mail problems (according to their website). The guy in the elections team basically did an apologetic shrug on the phone.

Is there anything DD can do to still vote? We are over 200 miles from Cambridge.
This would be her first general election and she (and I) feel angry that she did everything properly and is being denied her vote.

OP posts:
OhYouBadBadKitten · 11/12/2019 14:14

Students can register in both places and if they do they will receive two polling cards. This is totally legal. They must then choose where to vote. It is illegal to vote in both places.

I hope your dd can get an emergency proxy vote. It could be pretty tight there. dds postal vote arrived there a couple of weeks or so ago. She returned it turn of post, so hopefully it made it!

Becca19962014 · 11/12/2019 14:16

The form she needs to fill out is here www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-09/Emergency-employment-proxy-vote-application-form.pdf but it doesn't cover this eventuality and they are very strict about the rules.

AnotherEmma · 11/12/2019 14:18

I'm in Cambridge and would be happy to do a proxy vote for her if she can organise it and has no one else to do it. Feel free to PM me.

JockTamsonsBairns · 11/12/2019 14:19

I realise you can be registered to vote in both places, but didn't know you got polling cards for both. This system is nicely set up for electoral fraud on a potentially significant scale then?

Becca19962014 · 11/12/2019 14:20

Our postal votes stated to return immediately and not to leave it due to Christmas post. Sending them today wouldn't get there in time for the count tomorrow round here as due to the closure of sorting offices post now must go to north west England to come back again!.

Christmas post was mentioned as a possible issue for postal voters when a GE in December was discussed, and was, like a lot of things, ignored.

Becca19962014 · 11/12/2019 14:27

Yes you get polling cards for both, it should be down to the student to register and not be registered with their parents as well but it doesn't always work like that.

When I was at uni they registered everyone in halls, yes everyone, so that year people not eligible to vote did so due to being registered! The uni got into a lot of trouble for it.

mencken · 11/12/2019 14:29

no excuse but councils are so short-staffed that it is amazing that it happens at all. Yes, electoral services have just one job but this perfect storm of cuts and Christmas post means cockups will happen.

two poll cards is legal. Voting twice is not. And with no ID checks in England, you can turn up and say you are anyone and use their vote - wonder how often this happens?

OP's daughter needs to get emergency proxy. Good luck.

stitchwitch85 · 11/12/2019 14:31

OP, I have a civic-minded friend in Cambridge who posted on FB this morning of his willingness to act as emergency proxy for anyone who needs it. PM me if you need or want me to put your DD in touch with him!

Butterchunks · 11/12/2019 14:32

She could try the website swapmyvote.uk

VirginiaCreeper · 11/12/2019 14:33

Both of my DC registered at their uni town and their home town throughout uni. Obviously you are only allowed to vote in one place but you do get to choose which one.

I fully agree it seems unethical to have a choice, but it is what it is and many students choose where to vote according to how much difference their vote could make. This is one reason Labour wanted a slightly earlier date in December as the student vote tends to favour them.

At the last election DS2 decided he wanted to vote in his home town because it was marginal. He was away at uni and his postal vote did not arrive so he managed to sort out a proxy vote for me to use for him.
Novote I presume the postal vote would be sent to her Cambridge address? Could it be there waiting and she is not there to collect it? It is a bit late to chase up now though.

Becca19962014 · 11/12/2019 14:36

Just had a thought did she ask for it to go to your address rather than the Cambridge one? If so then that may be why it wasn't actioned. I know here it can only go to your registered electoral address.

AlexaShutUp · 11/12/2019 14:37

No disrespect to anyone on these boards, but just a note of caution about the kind offers from strangers willing to act as a proxy. You have no means of knowing whether your proxy will actually vote as you have requested, so I would be inclined to ask someone who you really trust, or failing that, someone who shares the same political views.

I have voted as my DH's proxy previously. It always struck me how little accountability there is - I could have voted for anyone, and he would have been none the wiser.

Tanith · 11/12/2019 14:37

DS made the 400 mile round trip for the last election. It's apparently not uncommon these days and the young people don't want to lose their votes.

AnotherEmma · 11/12/2019 14:40

just a note of caution about the kind offers from strangers willing to act as a proxy.

I did say if she has no one else who could do it!

I'm assuming cameras aren't allowed in polling stations but I'd be tempted to take a sneaky phone pic of the ballot paper anyway.

I agree though there is no other way of knowing someone voted the way you asked them to!

I think if someone asked me to vote Tory or the Brexit party or similar, I would politely decline, but if it was any other party I would agree to do it.

AlexaShutUp · 11/12/2019 14:43

I think if someone asked me to vote Tory or the Brexit party or similar, I would politely decline, but if it was any other party I would agree to do it.

Likewise!

Janus · 11/12/2019 14:43

Yes, my dd is at uni and voting there tomorrow with her polling card. Dad is picking her up tomorrow and driving her hone here, there is also a polling card here but obviously she won’t use it but did make me think how would they know???

DeathStare · 11/12/2019 14:43

Does she know which party she wants to vote for? If so, I bet if she phones the campaign office for that party for her constituency in Cambridge they will move heaven and earth to sort it for her.

Original poster
Novote · 11/12/2019 14:52

Well the Cambridge electoral services team asked her to forward her original email postal vote application to them but haven't issued a proxy vote yet- they say she doesn't meet the criteria.
Thank you to the kind people who offered to vote for DD- luckily she has a friend still in Cambridge who' d be happy to do it- she just needs a proxy vote issued first which isn't looking likely at this stage.
Good idea about the constituency office.

OP posts:
tiggertogger · 11/12/2019 14:53

There is a huge problem with electoral fraud in student populations which Momentum capitalised on in the last election and intend to this time too. If you look on twitter you'll see swathes of students advising each other on how to vote twice. We urgently need to require voter id for voting as otherwise how can we rely on democratic results?

DarlingNikita · 11/12/2019 14:59

That's a fucking disgrace. I'd be on to ALL parties' constituency offices (none of them know or need be told whether or not she'll be voting for them), plus the MP and the councillors for good measure. And I'd shame Cambridge City Council on Twitter etc too.

AnotherEmma · 11/12/2019 15:01

I do think voter ID would be a good idea, it does seem crazy that they don't ask for any proof of ID or address.

NarfZort · 11/12/2019 15:08

I do think voter ID would be a good idea, it does seem crazy that they don't ask for any proof of ID or address.

What about people who haven't got the right ID? There are plenty of them around, mostly lower income or older.

I'd be worried that some people might be put of voting if it requires any expense or trouble to get the right ID. It seems to be hard enough for some people to get organised to vote as it is.

It doesn't seem 'fair' to me, to risk people who may be concentrated into certain groups not being able to vote as 'easily' as other people.

NarfZort · 11/12/2019 15:10

I was in my fifties when I got my first 'official' photo ID.

AnotherEmma · 11/12/2019 15:16

I see your point. Turnout is bad enough without adding more barriers. I work with the demographic you describe and some of them don't have photo ID. However, you wouldn't have to insist on photo ID, you could just ask for something with their name on it, eg bank card, which most people always carry with them.

I do think low turnout is a bigger problem than electoral fraud, though!

KittyMarmalade · 11/12/2019 15:18

Assuming she's in the Cambridge constituency, it's very unlikely that anyone other than Labour or LibDem can win there. Perhaps she has a strong preference for one over the other, in which case by all means go to every effort to get that vote, but if she is just voting to get the Tories into or out of government, one extra vote in Cambridge is not going to help as there is almost no chance of them returning a Tory MP.
While I think it's disgusting that young people have been disenfranchised this way, in this particular case her one vote is unlikely to make a difference and I would chalk it down to experience.
That said, I would make a written complaint to Cambridge Council afterwards, but to be fair to them, with the election happening so quickly and so close to the end of term means that some mistakes were inevitable. Next time your daughter will know to chase it up a bit sooner.

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