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?

ID and a polling card...

mrsbean - no, it isn't. My polling card specifically tells you you don't need to bring it.

Milly - that is awful! I am furious - when I was an undergraduate I deliberately chose to vote in my university constituency not at my parents' house (students have the option to choose) - because my parents live in a safe Tory seat and the university seat was more up for grabs.

I am so fucking fed up with people assuming all students are feckless and don't really deserve a vote. There's been plenty of that attitude on this thread and it stinks.

I quite agree foureleven - there has to be a much quicker, more accurate,less labour intensive way to do this.

you don't need any id at all mrsbean - just your name and address.

the news said that because the presiding officer of that polling station used it as an excuse.

I don't understand why, as happened at one polling station, all those in the queue before 10pm weren't herded into the polling station and allowed to queue inside. The gates could then be closed and 10 and all those who made it into the queue in time could still exercise their vote.

I cannot believe people would think it is acceptable for people who turn up before 10pm to be turned away. So what if you're there at 9.50? I have never once had to queue to vote, I would never have assumed there would be a queue - but there was one at our polling station at 7.20am yesterday.

The media should have been asked to delay exit polls until the queues had been cleared. It was only the three big broadcasters - I am fairly sure they would have done under the circumstances. Then anyone in the queue by 10pm could have been processed. It wouldn't have been a big problem - as it was there was a huge amount of killing time going on between the exit poll being announced by the BBC and any results coming in. They could have showed re-runs of Fawlty Towers or something...

Isn't that a bit dodgy - just name and address?? Couldn't I show up at any old polling station and vote as someone else then?

Weird. How common is this knowledge? I had at least two friends complaining this week as their cards had been delivered, so they must have assumed they needed the cards?

I voted at 11.30am and there was no queue at all. TBH, I doubt if i'd gone at 9.59pm there would have been a problem, it really is a very small village!

I'm so angry that people like Hazel Blears and Glenda Jackson clung on why can't people actually be bothered to vote?!

you can only vote if the ballot papers have been issued by 10pm. its not simly a case of being in the queue or in the polling station by 10pm. dont think boundaries should be stretched in way D&S describes.

mrsbean - tis a separate debate!

I think the polling card thing is fairly common knowledge but the problem with not receiving one is that it leaves you unsure if you are registered to vote.

precisely mrsb. democracy at its finest. not.

No, it's not fair to say that (OP) - a student interviewed this morning on BBC Yorkshire said she queued for 2.5 hours and only just got in, so anyone getting to that polling station with the enormous queues even at 8pm wouldn't have got to vote.

YABVVVVU The polling station area in manchester Withington Constituency where there were problems has many houses that are multiple occupancy by students, it's extremely densely populated. people were queueing from 6pm. The University is a bus ride away from the polling station so once they'd got home, had tea etc. and turned up after 6 they were confronted by long queues. not U at all.

as nurse if I'd have been working in my previous job on the wards I'd more than likely have been in a similar postion, starting at 7am poss until 7pm or later in a hospital at least 30 mmins drive away from my polling station (same constituency different polling station) so YABU and talking out of your arse.

agree re unpredictability of queues this time. however, people should not have to justify their reasons for voting early, late or whenever. the polling cards do not cite 'appointment' or voting time slots so those voting later in the day cannot be reasonably compared to turning up late (in the usual sense of the word).

the way that current ballot system is, there should be no distinction between those who turned up at 9 - regardless whether they had arrived from a transatlantic flight, worked a 10 hour shift ..... or been in the pub all day. tis equality, no?

otherwise, how and who would 'measure' and 'judge' the validity of reasons being given for turning up late?

In some wards they ran out of ballot papers!

But yes i find it strange that from 7am to 10pm some people were 'late' for voting.

Not having a polling card means they have to ask your address and find it on the list and then work out which one you are (if it's a shared house it could be from 8 or so names, if it's a hall of residence, it could be a couple of hundred)
When you have to do that a lot, it slows things down.
But if you're told you don't have to bring your card, you can't get annoyed if they don't -remember this will be the first time most students have voted, so they won't know the procedure.

Huh? Can't believe this post. We are not talking about people who rushed in at 9.58. Some people were queuing HOURS and still got turned away.

There is always going to be a surge of voters in the evenings after people finish work. Many people work very long hours. Many people aren't near their homes (unexpectedly) on election day.

The answer cannot be "oh well they should have got there earlier".

I don't really understand why people don't have to bring their polling card TBH - that would have speeded things up (as well as being more secure).

"otherwise, how and who would 'measure' and 'judge' the validity of reasons being given for turning up late?"

Mumsnet, clearly...

it's my worst 'voting day' nightmare. Whilst I'm pretty flaky in many areas of my life, I ALWAYS vote in the morning enroute to work. Then I can just relax & get on with my day. Otherwise I'd have 'gotta vote, gotta vote' in my head all day causing anxiety

Seems like the higher turnout caught many by surprise and the polling booths simply weren't prepared for them or were poorly managed .

I feel bad for the people who didn't get to vote, but hope many of them will make an effort to get there earlier next time as there are no guarantees of no queues just cause we're British!

But it was in one polling station. They herded everyone inside and closed the gate. All those in the queue before 10 were then able to vote.

but downdog, people didnt miss their right to vote due to 'not making an effort to get their earlier'. many many of people queue - for hours BECUASE of the effort they made.

its not fair to suggest that the people who arrived before the closing time, yet couldnt vote were somehow 'irresponsible'.

Are you not allowed time off from work to vote? Under employment law in Queensland Australia you are entitled to two hours.

Some people arrived at 8.30pm (after work), queued for an hour and a half only to be told the polling station was closing and they couldn't vote. I think postal voting maybe the way forward - but you have to make up your mind in advance for that.

Dastardly - from what I understand, that was actually illegal. The law says not only that polling stations must shut at 10pm but also that voters must have a ballot paper by 10pm, or they mustn't vote.

So they would have had to herd everyone in AND tick them all off the list to give them a ballot paper, all before 10pm. I bet they didn't manage the second bit - so, technically illegal.

Of course, whether this is what the law SHOULD say is a whole different question - but it explains why other polling stations didn't do the same thing.

It just seems common sense to me. Obviously the law needs to be changed to make sure this can't happen again.