Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

BBC news really have reached a new level of dumbing down today.

156 replies

TheWaiting · 12/12/2019 16:31

Switched on News 24. Reporter outside polling station has just explain that you put a cross next to the name of your preferred candidate and if they get the most votes they become an M.P and represent you in Parliament. 🤨 We then go back to Christian Fraser in the studio who proceeds with a segment titled, ‘How to vote’ 🙄🙄🙄
I honestly thought they were running a Newsround episode.

OP posts:
Tangfastics · 12/12/2019 19:37

As per times?

Whatever. You made a stupid comment and you got called for it.

WaxOnFeckOff · 12/12/2019 19:38

Incidentally, DC2 is studying politics and was still a bit wary of making sure he only marked in one box so as not to invalidate his vote. he's been waiting a long time for this!

WaxOnFeckOff · 12/12/2019 19:41

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll, that's exactly the discussion I was having with DS1 who isn't really too up on Politics as it doesn't interest him as much as it probably should. Everyones vote counts for the same regardless of how much they've looked into it or are just going with gut instinct. Whether they are voting for nation issues or local ones, the party they like or the against the party they don't. 1 person, 1 vote.

ScreamingValalalalahLalalalah · 12/12/2019 19:42

I think 'spoiled' or non-standard ballots are scrutinised to see if it's possible to determine the intended vote, so accidentally overlapping another box with one line of your 'X' wouldn't invalidate the paper, as long as the cross was clearly in a single box. Apparently they will accept a smiley in your chosen box too! Smile

runoutofnamechanges · 12/12/2019 19:45

@FreeStar Do you know how to vote in Spain or Iraq or the US? Ironically, the same DC who realised at the polling station today that no one had ever told him what you do with your ballot paper, clearly remembers the images of people with inked fingers after the first elections in Iraq post Saddam Hussein.

About 3% of the electorate was under 18 at the last general election so will be voting for the first time

I've just realised that I was 26 the first time I got to vote in a general election in person. I had a postal vote when I was at university. There will be lots of people voting for the first time, not just the under 20s. Plus we have different voting systems for different types of elections in different regions of the UK so it is not totally straight forward. Some people may have only voted before in elections with a single transferable vote or supplementary vote.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 12/12/2019 19:45

People circling the name of their preferred candidate instead of a cross in the box, striking out the name of other candidates as an indication of who they want to vote for etc.

If you think about it, how would you know if you've not done it before? Even if you notice where it says (in very small letters) to put a cross in the box, how do you know that it means the little box to the right of your chosen candidate's name and not the big box in which the name is printed?

I forget the actual wording on the ballot, but I think it says to put your cross in the box 'next to' the name of the candidate. Therefore, you could even work out that the little box to the right of candidate A (your choice) goes together with the big box with their name in it, so you mark the box NEXT to it i.e. the little box for candidate B.

It says to mark one box only, but if people don't know how it works, they could think that, instead of choosing one, you have to vote to 'disqualify' one by 'crossing out their name'.

If you think of something as basic as a wordsearch, even there, some people will cross through the words that they find, some will circle them, some will colour in the individual boxes making up the word, some might even black out the letters that don't make up words.

ScreamingValalalalahLalalalah · 12/12/2019 19:50

This booklet explains what is allowable as a mark on a ballot paper.

Circling would be allowed (example 9)

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf_file/UKPE-doubtfuls-booklet.pdf

WaxOnFeckOff · 12/12/2019 19:51

Our booths had the information in large print displayed. It gets complicated as in Scottish elections we don't just put a cross in one box. It's an Additional member system. So you vote for two candidates and I might be misremembering but I'm sure i voted once and had to add rank numbers but that might not have been an election...

ScreamingValalalalahLalalalah · 12/12/2019 19:52

Also allowable to cross out the ones you don't want (example 14)

TheWaiting · 12/12/2019 19:58

Whatever. You made a stupid comment and you got called for it.

Eh, no I didn’t and...no I didn’t. Get over yourself. You are the only one suggesting I did anything wrong. Not everyone agreed with me (some did 🤷🏻‍♀️) and I conceded I may have BU but you’re the only one making out I posted some sort of vile OP Hmm

OP posts:
tashac89 · 12/12/2019 20:10

I got to age 18 in the top 5% in my school, yet knowing next to nothing about politics, aside from who our prime minister was. My parents had no interest, it wasn't taught at my school. I went to vote for the first time confused and worried I was going to get it wrong. I have spent a lot of time since then educating myself, but for that first time I imagine there were a few 'I can't BELIEVE she doesnt even know how to vote!!' aimed at me in the community centre.

frankie001 · 12/12/2019 20:16

Love this!

BBC news really have reached a new level of dumbing down today.
Tinkobell · 12/12/2019 20:23

Maybe the reporter thought he was presenting on the Ceebeebies channel ?!!

daisypond · 12/12/2019 20:28

I think ballot papers could be made clearer- maybe adding a party symbol or logo, where relevant, against candidate names. On a long list of names it can be confusing, especially if the official party name isn’t something normally used.

TheWaiting · 12/12/2019 20:29

@tashac89, that’s why it should all be taught at school. My teenagers have been discussing it in lessons for the last 2wks through the ‘eyes’ of various subjects. So the history of elections, the geographical layout of constituencies, political leaflets and propaganda in English. Yesterday they held a mock vote; Greens won by a long way. Their PSHCE curriculum has stuff like that and basic banking etc all of which I think is important. I didn’t realise that wasn’t standard. It certainly should be. Well done for filling the gaps yourself.

OP posts:
DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 12/12/2019 20:30

I think ballot papers could be made clearer- maybe adding a party symbol or logo, where relevant, against candidate names.

They do have a logo don't they?

TheWaiting · 12/12/2019 20:31

@daisypond, I’m fairly sure they do have a little square or similar next to the candidates’ names where it states the party name and usually their logo.

OP posts:
Natsku · 12/12/2019 20:32

I would have liked to see an informative video explaining how to vote before my first time, I was quite anxious about it. I went with my mum because I felt far too nervous to go alone in case I did something wrong Grin

I remember my mum got asked outside afterwards who she voted for (I guess for an exit poll - although she was only voting in the local election which was on the same day so not even interesting for the poll) and she said quite angrily that it's a secret ballot and she won't tell anyone!

TheWaiting · 12/12/2019 20:33

@ScreamingValalalalahLalalalah, that’s really interesting. I had no idea all those were valid and acceptable. I thought it had to be a cross.

OP posts:
ScreamingValalalalahLalalalah · 12/12/2019 20:36

Yes, I found it an interesting read. I love official documents!

I'm voting for Windy Miller next time. With a smiley. Xmas Grin

Havaina · 12/12/2019 20:37

You sound insufferable, OP. Your poor kids.

ScreamingValalalalahLalalalah · 12/12/2019 20:41

Havaina The OP has acknowledged she might have been unreasonable in her initial comments - there's no need to be unkind.

HeIenaDove · 12/12/2019 20:43

Well they are certainly discussing a consequence of a Tory/Lib Dem policy on the news.......

what happened to Alfie Meadows.

on ITV and Channel 4 news. I havent watched the BBC today.

StealthPolarBear · 12/12/2019 20:50

They do have a logo.
I made a fool of myself as I thought we had a little pod of four booths, all meeting in the middle. We didn't, we only had two so I strode round to vote only to realise I had to get in the queue!

ScreamingValalalalahLalalalah · 12/12/2019 20:52

We had three booths, all empty, but I had a strange moment of indecision before heading to the middle one.