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?

Minipie -- the law says they have to have their ballot paper in their hand. Does anyone know if the law would have allowed the election officials to have got everyone inside and handed out ballot papers for 10pm, and then do the checking off of names from the list, before allowing voting?

AIBU to have been annoyed at the old people at our polling station last night at 7?? Loads of them!

A couple I could understand, maybe they'd been away for the day. But most of them had had all flippin day and yet there they were taking up space.. eurghhh

Dastardly - someone pointed out earlier in the thread that you'd have to cut off everyone's mobile access if you let them keep voting after 10pm. Because the results and exit polls will influence their decision - it's not fair otherwise.

Lack of voting papers is inexcusable - there shoul be one for everyone on the electoral register.

Anyone else - tough. The polls were open for 15 hours. Anyone who anticipated an unpredictable day should've registered for a postal vote (it is NOT complicated) in advance.

And please don't moan about the VOLUNTEERS manning the polling stations, who worked a sixteen-hour day with no breaks, and had to be polite and helpful at all times in the face of some complete and utter twattery.

slhilly - in answer to your question - ballot papers can only be issued once the voter has confirmed their identity, so no.

That was me.

I have no idea what you should do if hundreds of people do turn up at 9.55pm though.

Mind you, that wasn't the case. Clearly lots of polling stations were dreadfully disorganised - ours was - and no-one put any thought into what happens if there is even a slightly higher turnout.

I am really disgusted by it all, and am very tempted to write to someone to complain - but who would that be?

YABU

I'd have little sympathy with people who turned up at 21:58 and whinged about not being able to vote, but the vast majority of people turned away had been queuing for some considerable time, and that is just not on.

It seems like some constituencies/polling stations just couldn't cope with the numbers that turned out to vote. It is always going to be busier after folks have finished work. Hopefully lessons will be learned so this doesn't happen again.

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

Yes, you are. I don't think you're given a set time, but I believe it's illegal for an employer to prevent a member of staff from leaving work to go and vote.

'Anyone else - tough. The polls were open for 15 hours. Anyone who anticipated an unpredictable day should've registered for a postal vote (it is NOT complicated) in advance.'

Chippy, have you ever been in contact with someone who's illiterate or of very low intelligence? Just asking, you know, since they have just as much right to vote as you, and trust me, putting a cross on a piece of paper is a heck of a lot simpler than sorting out a postal vote.

YABU

I did walk straight into my local polling station at 5pm and was the only person there.

However If there had been a long queue I could not waited in it with two young hungry children and a dh who was away from home on that day (yes he did organise a postal vote for himself).

Voting onthe way to school would have been nighon impossible as we struggle to be out of the house by8am anyway, to have them up and ready by 7 would have been really difficult and it wouldnever occur to me that it wouldbe necessary.

It is an absolute disgracer that when it became apparent that the turnout was higher more people were not drafted in and as for the running out of ballot papers, that is truly awful.

Illegal tp prevent a member of staff leaving to vote eh, I'd like to see what would happen if a teacher said oh by the way I am just nipping off for an hour in the middle of teaching aclass to go and vote!!

"Yes, you are. I don't think you're given a set time, but I believe it's illegal for an employer to prevent a member of staff from leaving work to go and vote."

Most people work for 9/10 hours max. There is no need to take time off work to vote. Although i beleive from speaking to my mother they do allow this in the civil service where she works.

I agree with you LRD, but are these the people disenfranchised by the queues? I was referring more to the people with long working hours, unpredictable shift patterns, no babysitters etc.

BTW sorry to hear about Evan Harris - I was a teller for the LDs when he got elected. Lovely chap.

so staff manning some polling stations were volunteers?

i thought we were all employed by the local authority electoral services for the day - and well paid too.

i even heard that adverts on lastminute.com for people to count the ballot papers. friends of mine did this and say it was well paid.

surely that can that cant be right?

Volunteers in the sense that we all volunteered to work ridiculous hours to help with the democratic process. Of course we were paid .

As for well paid less than a fiver an hour after tax, with no breaks

I am sure if people had realised what was going to happen at some poling stations last night they may well have registered with a postal vote - hindsight eh?

If I had been working I would have been able to get the polling station at around 9.30pm and would have thought that would be plenty of time to put a cross in the box so I wouldn't have registered a postal vote.

The turnout was 79% in 1992, and there was hardly any postal voting back then. Turnout in the 70s is normal for a general election - it's only the last two which have been a blip. So what went wrong? Surely these levels were expected.

Oh I agree foureleven - fifteen hours should be plenty of time to be able to cast your vote. I was just answering the question as to whether or not workers would be allowed time off if required.

"Anyone else - tough. The polls were open for 15 hours. Anyone who anticipated an unpredictable day should've registered for a postal vote"

Someone who couldn't vote before work, but turned up at the polling station after work at 1930 and queued for 2.5hrs & still didn't get to vote it's just "tough"?

I wouldn't call their day "unpredictable" (as they normally leave home at 0700 & get home by 1930 as is the case with many commuters). A 2.5hr window after they get home from work should be long enough for them to be able to register their vote.

As you were then

thanks for clearing that up CM. wasnt being 'arsey', just curious as though some staf were actual volunteers (as in .... volunteers) as opposed to employed and paid.

was not having a dig at anyone. also am very surpsised re the pay. you may have picked up that my previous post said "we". I worked in a polling station - poll clerk and was paid significantly more that what you said. i am genuinely surprised. twas curiosity, not a snipe.

Chippy, I don't see how they're necessarily less disadvantaged than anyone else really - even if they don't have jobs (plenty do), they still may not have expected to queue, and still may have had other commitments that day - education, childcare, etc. Quite a lot of people with low literacy work exactly the sort of shift jobs that make it difficult to take time off standing in a queue. I do think it's worrying that now we have postal votes, there's an assumption that people are to blame if they don't use them. Personally I hate them and have always had to have someone else help me fill them in, which is a bit annoying actually.

I don't know EH personally, but he does seem really nice. It is a pity.

RS - I'm going to work in your borough next time then !!

foureleven are you proposing some kind of curfew for the over 60s? YABVU.

foureleven - you have no idea why the 'old people' you refer to were there at 7 - they may have had to wait for someone else to get home to give them a lift to the polling station, they could have been providing childcare for grandchildren, they could have been waiting till parking was free in the evening - any number of reasons.

You sound like one of the people who stands in a supermarket queue and tuts at my 100 year old Dad because he is a little deaf & not quite so fast as they would like at getting his money out. Apparently he has "no right" to "block the queue" at lunchtime - despite the fact that lunchtime is the only time his kind neighbour can take him to the shop.