to think that people turned away from voting should have got down there earlier?

[aloevera]

They've had all day. Or could have done a postal vote? Or am I too harsh?

i have a couple of friends who are nurses and work 13 hour shifts plus travel, so it's not unreasonable to think that some people may only have a very short time at either end of the day to actually go and vote as well

YABU - voting times are between 7am -10pm
If you turn up before 10p even if last minute you should be allowe dto cast your vote.

Why can they not do as soeplaces did everywhere/ If in queue at 10 - you get brought int he room, doors are locked, you vote and then your leave. You are then isolated from outside news. Or the results are delayed on TV/press. Surely everyone getting their vote is mor eimportant than the time the first result is published?

I am tempted to trot out "a lack of planning on your part does not make an emergency on mine". But I'm not a WI-a-like behind a ballot box so not my place this time .

A queue did briefly form at my polling station (the next was 3 streets away so we were, you know, swamped) but it was because some woman was dithering and about 8 people lined up behind her whilst she faffed.

DH said when he went some woman refused to confirm her name (FFS).

That sort of thing does not help.

""Surely everyone getting their vote is more important than the time the first result is published? ""

I agree

The problem is that the law is very clear about when you can and cannot cast your vote - a vote cast after 10pm cannot be counted.

I blame the BBC/ITV actually - they were so busy abiding by the rules stopping them showing bias that they didn't report the actual useful information that voter turnout was unusually high, and queues were building up in some areas so you should get there as early as you can.

Hulababy that seems like the sensible solution, but i suppose it depends on polling station venue also, if its a portakabin rather than a school it wouldnt work

And nowadays everyoine has phone/i pods etc and can find out results there are rules to prevent them from using these kind of devices while waiting to vote

Considering the usual degree of voter apathy in th UK, nobody expected the turnout to be as highas it seems to have been this year.

It just would not be possible to allow everyone in the queue at 10 o'clock to vote: they could have been influenced by the media. Unless the media could be told to remain silent. Which wd not be possible either.

There's clearly been a messup this time. I don't think the solution is postal voting, as postal voters have to make up their minds so much earlier than everyone else. Of course more people will be voting in the evening. The solution is to a) improve efficiency at the poling stations and b) to keep them open much longer.

YABU. There are all kinds of constraints facing people.

The queues are unprecedented. They should have been allowed to vote. I'd've been livid had it been me especially since they're always going on about voter apathy in this country. Blardy stupid.

I've had four glasses of wine! Mostly to soften the blow of a Tory victory.

So, if not all polling stations are big enough then they should put a block on exit polls and results from being published until everyone has voted. People getting to vote should be most important.

And why are polling stations not large enough? They should have suitable venues. That is a whole other issue I guess.

that example from 'Kathy' doesn't show a 3 hour wait though does it - it's going 3 times and not bothering to stand in a queue . . .

heard withington mentioned and thought about all those students down the pub rocking up at ten to ten - limited sympathy there - but it is a disgrace if people have had to queue for more than 10 minutes for example and then didn't get to vote - a better solution would be to let everyone who was in the queue at ten pm come in to cast their vote.

Look at the queues that isnt something i would expect to see in this country (well perhaps the umbrellas bit)

Tory victory? It's currently 2 - nil to Labour. It's not over yet...

I was telling at a local polling station which had a 74% turnout by 9pm - way above average and almost 10% more than expected. There were queues but no-one had to wait more than 15 minutes or so, but even that was a shock. Holdups seemed to happen because people didn't understand the 2 forms and how many votes they could put on each. Probably not helped by the fact that several parties were not on both ballots.

Woe betide those whose lives must go on. I didn't make it at all to vote, sadly 15 hours in one day simply isn't enough for everyone.

There should be 2 days to vote. Things happen, the world simply isn't simple enough for something so important to be restricted to one day.

I teach so not a job you associate with ong hours, I started work at 7 this morning and finished at 7 tonight , not unusual at the moment. I did not vote until 8pm. Many colleagues were working even later and being in a rural location they may have got to vote even later than me. Many of my colleagues tried to vote before work and reported that there were queues first thing this morning.

YANBU.

15 hours is plenty of time to vote or else use the postal or proxy voting service.

excuse me, not all students are like that. Waking up late, going to the pub and forgetting about elections

Evidently, 15 hours is not enough time for everyone.

It shouldn't be only one day.

Surely the big problem with voting over 2 days would be securing the ballot boxes overnight?

What about those in Merseyside who couldn't vote because the polling station ran out of sheets? Maybe they should have brought their own with them ... ?

From BBC website:

"2347: The BBC in Merseyside has been taking calls from people saying they couldn't vote because polling stations had run out of ballot papers. Stations affected were Taggert Avenue and Dovedale Road in Wavertree, Dunbabin Road and Rudstone School in Childwall, and Ambergate Road in Grassendale."

you're quite right amiedoodle, I'm sure in withington it was actually BBC execs who'd been up working all hours and only managed to get down the polling station at ten to ten bless them