Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Is this a covid 'election'? So many people queuing to vote!

43 replies

Oldowl · 06/05/2021 20:38

I always vote. At nearly all local elections I am the only one in the polling station. At the General Election between 5-8pm there might be a queue of 5 or 6 people.

I have been out to vote twice tonight and come home as the queue is so long. They were allowing 4 in the Parish Hall at a time then the queue was down the steps and around into the high street with 20+ people queuing!

It is good that people are voting. Are people using this election to send a message to the government about how they have handled the Covid pandemic? Are have local politics just got really interesting?!

How long are the queues in your area?

OP posts:
SomewhereOnlyWeKnew · 06/05/2021 20:47

The queues are due to the social distancing required and a limit on how many voters can be in the room.

nordica · 06/05/2021 20:49

No queue at my polling station but there were definitely more people than usual! We're having a local by-election in my ward too. My polling station is in a church hall and I'm usually only one there, or one of two, and this time there were five or six people I saw in the few short minutes I was there.

QueenOfTheDoubleWide · 06/05/2021 20:49

Not round here. DH and I went about 6 and were the only people there where it is normally busy. It is a very elderly population so maybe some have gone for postal votes

FiloPasty · 06/05/2021 20:50

I've not voted because I feel so rubbish from my vaccination, first time I haven't voted in years but honestly don't have the strength to get out of bed.

user1495884211 · 06/05/2021 20:52

Are there fewer polling stations? We usually go to the local school but have had to go further afield this time. If there are fewer venues due to covid, that might at least partially explain why it seems busier.

Northernsoullover · 06/05/2021 20:53

I gave up. I feel awful about this but I just didn't have the time.

BIWI · 06/05/2021 20:55

@Northernsoullover

I gave up. I feel awful about this but I just didn't have the time.
Still time to vote!
FinnegansWhiskers · 06/05/2021 20:55

I have been over to vote 3 times today. The queues are horrendous! I’ve given up. I’m off to work now. There is nobody to vote for amongst this shower of shit anyway

daisypetula · 06/05/2021 20:57

Today is the first election I've not voted in, I just cba to line up with the people who will be drinking pints in the outdoor pub seating area next door, I went earlier and it was heaving with people queuing up with pints in hand and the queue was right down the road.

ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere · 06/05/2021 21:01

Definitely a longer queue than normal for a local/London mayoral election. Normally we’d just wander straight up to the desk to get our ballot and not have to queue at all. Partly explained by delays caused by having to wipe the booth periodically perhaps, but in a normal election I think they’d have had time to do that and still not build up a queue.

Original poster
Oldowl · 06/05/2021 21:11

Voted now. The queue was 3 people long at 9pm.

OP posts:
bunnytheegghunter · 06/05/2021 21:19

I have given up our polling station is only allowing one person a time unless from the same household, the queues are massive! Tried twice today but can't be waiting for hours to vote!

SixDegrees · 06/05/2021 21:22

I voted just after I dropped the DC off at school. There was no queue then, although a few more people came in shortly after me.

However, there were some people grumbling on our local Facebook group about the polling stations for local elections - normally the bit of our village where I live in votes in a village hall, and people in the other bit of the village vote in portacabins. This year, there’s no portacabins. No one knows why, but there’s been a lot of speculation that it’s to do with Covid.

So more people in my area have the village hall as a polling station than normal. That’s got the potential to make queues longer than normal, even without the social distancing inside the polling station.

Spectrumofhumanlife · 06/05/2021 21:26

Queue was too long for me (one in one out due to Covid) so i left. Had to get to school to pick the kids up. Loads of other people gave up and left too.

MargosKaftan · 06/05/2021 21:30

Ours was only allowing 4 people into vote at one time. (So you had to wait for someone to leave out the back door to go in).

Normally they can accommodate 12 people voting at a time.

So I presumed some queues were due to that. I only had to wait for 2 people to leave for me to go in, so not a long wait.

coogee · 06/05/2021 21:34

How long are the queues in your area?

Only me and my husband there.

gingerbiscuit19 · 06/05/2021 21:36

Ours was one in one out. At 6pm it was a 45 minute wait but I went back at nine and waited about twenty minutes. I think it's great people are voting.

MargosKaftan · 06/05/2021 22:26

I do wonder if they were expecting more people to do postal votes out of fear of mixing, but less than expected where organised to think about it in advance bothered.

No cute dogs today waiting for their humans to vote. Bit disappointing as last election, the LibDem lady was minding 3 good girls/boys waiting nicely.

worriedatthemoment · 06/05/2021 22:35

Don't know as not been out , most people I know are not bothering

2X4B523P · 06/05/2021 22:36

First time I’ve not voted, one less time that I would need to wear a face mask.

Howshouldibehave · 06/05/2021 22:37

Our polling station is normally dead but today because of covid, it was one in and one out with regular manic cleaning of booths. There was a queue for the first time ever! I doubt there were any more people than normal though.

Surroundedbytime · 06/05/2021 22:41

I assumed the queues were because of the restrictions. In my polling station it was only one at a time.

Travert · 06/05/2021 22:56

Busy here too but only waiting 2-3 minutes and no queue (other than me). I doubt it’s an avalanche of people wanting to sock it to Boris - quite the opposite by the sound of it.

AfternoonToffee · 06/05/2021 23:05

No queue at mine, apparently though there was some issue with getting the booths etc for some of the polling stations, so some were shut I'm guessing this was a national issue, rather than a very specific 'only in my town' one.

boys3 · 06/05/2021 23:06

queue free early afternoon where I am - just council elections, no mayoral contests, devolved government. Although Police and Crime Commissioner too - as if that would make any difference Grin would love to know if there was a real Ted Hastings standing for one somewhere