To ask if you have voted yet?

[AllaMova]

Today, Wales and Scotland are voting for who will govern their National Parliaments and England are voting in their local elections.

I voted this morning and it was super quick. I was in and out in two minutes.

Have you voted yet?

Voted at lunchtime today & insisted my DH & eldest DC voted before they headed to football training! I believe it should be mandatory to vote, even if you choose to spoil your ballot as you don’t like any of the parties, as it’s a real privilege to live in a free democracy (although I appreciate the irony of enjoying a free democracy whilst acting as a dictator in insisting people attend a polling station !)

By that logic, why isn’t it 14 or 15?

Yes about 5:30pm

my brother was to sick to attend (awaiting gallbladder remover so keeps throwing up and another mate who like me doesn’t do one night in hospital both these gents won’t have had their say : /

Done!
Easy peasy. All smiles.
There were quite a few people there. I hope it is a big turn up.

I swear it did. 🤣 They were doing it for all the first time voters today apparently. DC looked pretty embarrassed by it all though. 🙈

I can’t, my kids are in bed.

I've never seen a Gaza protest of any kind. I can only assume that you're on London.
But sodding St George's flags on lampposts line the main roads on way too many of my routes. I hate it, and dream of cutting them down.

There's been 211 Palestine marches since 10 Oct 2023! I googled!

Voted after dinner. After I'd discounted the Reform and Con ones, I googled Green, Labour and Lib Dem to see what they do. There was no information about the Labour candidate, and nothing about the Lib Dem candidate except some pro-EU pictures. But the Green candidate shared that they work for a charity in the local area, and that commitment to public service impressed me so they got my vote.

Where though? Those of us outside London and other big cities are unlikely to have seen one.

I'm sorry they pain you, but most people will not have been inconvenienced by them. But the flags are all over the damn place.

There were no elections in my city today. I'm feeling a bit left out.

Yes, it’s the only place where we really get to have a meaningful input into who governs our local councils. All the moaning on here and FB and other SM is just noise. The only way to have your say is at the ballot box.

For local elections it’s typically only about 30%.

I've just asked grok to provide a list of places:

Aberdeen, Aberystwyth, Abergavenny, Armagh, Bangor, Bedford, Belfast, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bradford, Brecon, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Camden (London), Cardiff, Carlisle, Chester, Coventry, Cromer, Derby, Derry, Dumfries, Dundee, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Falkirk, Falmouth (Cornwall/Penryn), Forres, Glasgow, Gloucester, Hastings, Huddersfield, Keighley, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Lurgan, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Newport, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oldham, Oxford, Peterborough, Reading, Rochester (Kent), Salford, Sheffield, Shipley, Slough, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon, Truro, Waltham Forest (London), Warwick, Winnersh (Berkshire), York.

Notes:
London had the largest and most frequent marches (hundreds of thousands at peak national demos from Russell Square/Embankment to Whitehall/Parliament).
Many university cities had campus encampments/sit-ins (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, etc.).

Train station sit-ins happened in places like Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Bristol Temple Meads, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central.

Factory/direct actions (e.g. Elbit Systems sites) added protests near Leicester, Bristol, Oldham, etc.

Smaller towns/villages and additional London boroughs (e.g. Highbury, Tower Hamlets) had local vigils/rallies not always named individually in national reports.

So it really isn't just London.

I know, but I am really hoping that we realise how important choosing the right person is, or at least the best option. That we use our democratic rights, and duties, to read through memorandums, learn about candidates, policies, show an interest about the world around us and be more involved in politics. Not voting is not a responsible option at this point.

No, I’ve never voted for anything

Why not @flabbypea?

Lots of reasons really, but mainly because I’ve never liked anyone enough to vote for them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1l2gp47693t

Following the results here.
Will the counting go into tomorrow?
I cannot believe Reform has taken so much of the vote.....

Reform wiped the floor with my area as expected.

What a horrible invasion of privacy.

Who on earth was doing it?

In my area it varied ward by ward from 23% (ouch) to just over 50%.

It was just the people behind the two tables where you get the ballot papers. I spoke to DC after and apparently it was fine, it just wasn’t expected and because they’re autistic it threw them a little. It happened to my friend’s son too and they thought it was hilarious.

I just came back to update that I already regret my decision not to vote. This is not due to the outcome, I’m in Scotland and it was only ever going to SNP anyway but just because I feel should have done it. Not because people fought or died as I still managed brain this was for choice, but just because i genuinely feel that I let myself down by not voting. I will never choose to miss a vote again.

Bless you!