OK I'm running around screaming VOTE TODAY now!!!!

[Noonki]

Yes it's today.

There is a real possibilty the BNP will get a seat.

If you don't vote you are kind of complicit in any victory they have.

so VOTE VOTE VOTE

the polls are open til 10pm
if you forgot to send a postal vote you can hand it in to the polling station.

But I think they'd be a bit pi**ed off if lots of people said "Oh, I can't be bothered to vote today - it's lovely and sunny in the garden, and anyway, they are all equally crap"

Particularly if the BNP got lots of seats because of it.

I always assumed the people outside are party activists, checking that everyone they have down as a supporter has voted. So they can phone people and chase them up.

I could be way off though... in any case there was no-one outside my polling station today anyway.

well I'm sure there were plenty of women in them days who were a bit p*ssed off at the "fuss" they were making to allow women to vote .

have voted
i was the only one in the polling station mind you...

don't think I've ever not voted, actually
i enjoy it
and yes, keeping the BNP out was on my mind too

Thanks HelloBeastie - this is something like what I had heard.

I always refuse to show them my card, but it does make me feel a bit snooty to do this. Hope there's no-one outside mine.

Hellobeastie - yes they are. MIL made me do it for her party (who I don't support) at a byelection a few years ago. I was 6 months pg and it was pouring with rain, and I still haven't quite recovered from the experience! I couldn't say no because I was staying with her at the time.

You are so right! I've been doing the same. Maybe we should trawl around MN doing same. Am shit-scared of BNP getting in.

Actually could not believe the size of the European ballot paper. I actually laughed out loud when I saw it- it was about 2 ft long and included parties such as "the Cornwall Party" and our very own independent, Katie "Maggie" Hopkins.

I always vote. Am taking my dc's with me to explain political process.

And I stay up all night when it's a General Election

Please, please, someone else tell me they do that too...

bella...think i stayed up most of the night during the 1997 election
think next time it might just be too darned depressing

bella, first time ever we haven't managed to take the children with us to vote. The boy child had to be at school for a GCSE exam at 9am though, and we feel they have been very adequately exposed to polling stations so far, having attended every single one we've ever attended (and we always vote). Plus there'll be a general election within the year anyway.

And yes, on GE night I usually stay up to watch the swingometer, barring illness.

I voted - taking my DD to see democracy in action. She is 6 and thinks Mummy is a fruit loop!

I did for the last one bella. And ended up inexplicably with a massive hangover ...

I am appalled with my work colleauges today: none of them are voting. It's this kind of voter apathy that nearly led to Le Pen gaining power in France and did lead to Ahmadenijad getting in in Iran. And look at the hassle that has caused. I'm particularly shocked by one colleague who is South African like I am and lived through the first free democratic elections in South Africa. Those were amazing. Every time I think "I can't be bothered" I think of people who waited their whole lives to get this right that we can so easily disregard, who waited for seven hours in the sun to vote, who died ... it makes me so that some people aren't bothered.

Rant over.

ah, you've got to love Peter Snow and his good ole swingometer
especially when only about 2 and a half results have come in and he's trying to project the entire outcome of the election from them

And, for the SA'n colleauge ... his family are originally from Zimbabwe. I really do despair sometimes.

Am going straight after I pick up DS from nursery tonight. It will be a valuable experience for him
I've voted in every possible election since I turned 18 [smug emoticon]. First time I voted was for my mum!

Noonki, thanks for that link. Has made me think more about the issues involved and change my mind who to vote for.

I voted this morning.

If anyone has lost/mislaid etc their voting card; do not worry. I could'nt find mine this morning. They will ask you for your name and address and cross you off the list, then give you a voting slip.

Bella - I do not purposfully stay up to find out the results of Elections. However, I do find myself being up to watch them never the less

I've voted - was a bit of a challenge explaining the voying system to my dd (2). She now thinks thate you have to vote or her pre-school will close - she is currently on the phone to Daddy saying it is important dadd- I can show you!!

I'm always astonished and angry when people say they are not going to vote.
For us woman it is so important. People have suffered and died so that we have the right to vote and there are so many people in the world who have no right to vote and I bet they'd give anything for that privilage

(dodgy typing sorry - feeding dd2 & mning don't mix!)

I stay up all night for general elections too - and did even before I was old enough to vote!

I'll be voting today. I know plenty that aren't though.

Thanks, girls - feel so much better now

Message withdrawn

This has inspired me to nip down to the polling station once ds2 wakes from his nap. Think I'm going to go for thr Lib Dems

I went without my card and they ticked me off the list, just had to say the road I lived in and my name!

Had a list of 20 candidates to choose from

we're walking up to the polling station this evening.