Westministenders: The Election Car Crash

[RedToothBrush]

I was thinking about how I could sum up the general election campaign and well. This said it all.

Bigchoc interesting stats on split of poll lead between UK and England only in 2015. Worth bearing in mind that the Conservative vote in Scotland has doubled (according to polls) between 2015 and now and so the Con lead in National polls does not translate so heavily to England as in 2015 - point I was making earlier.

I have a friend who applied for a postal vote due to living overseas. He received an ordinary ballot card in the post, too late to apply for a proxy, (and too late to change his work plans and make a special trip back to the UK just to vote) and was told he didn't qualify for an emergency proxy. They have him incorrectly recorded as not wanting a postal vote.

So is all this a matter of incompetence or something more sinister, given that it seems to be happening a lot in marginals?

My gut? Short notice on an election?
Incompetence.

Voted at lunchtime - there were only three other people. I've never seen it so quiet.

The lady in front of me went into the booth, came back out and shouted over "Oi, where are UKIP on here?". So they told her UKIP aren't standing in our constituency. She went back, then reappeared, "And where's Theresa May on here?" We're in SE London... guess that's what happens when your campaign is "Vote for TM" rather than "Vote Conservative". I really think part of the campaign needs to repeatedly, and clearly, spell out how our elections work. I doubt she was the only one who wasn't sure.

I was disenfranchised by an admin error in 1992. I still remember my fury. It's the only time in 35 years that I've not voted. Very upsetting.

Might just be an indicator of late enthusiastic registration and could point to high turn out?

Regarding all these "administrative errors" and "unfortunate mistakes" affecting potential voters . I can't help but think that the very fact we have to even suspect the mildest possibility of political corruption is absolutely CHILLING.

Even if it does all turn out to be completely innocent coincidence, what the hell does it say about how ugly and divided our society has become, that we can't have absolute faith in the workings of our own democratic system and the people who administer it, who we should be able to trust to behave with scrupulous honesty and fidelity?

I think that in the vast majority of cases it is most likely to be incompetence than anything more sinister, but it is still shit.
You would have thought that no matter how conscientious and careful they were, there would be the occasional cock up. But if a pattern emerges of a higher than expected number of cock ups, it needs to be investigated; even when it doesn't affect the result, it undermines people's trust in the whole process.

ImpYCelyn

I hope you pointed to labour/lindem/green when she asked where May was

I have never ever seen a queue at my polling station. Currently in a queue of about 50.

Went to proxy vote for a friend - she called the council twice, officer at the station called apparently no one has any record of it.

I feel so bad

yy elements ^

My gut? Short notice on an election?
Incompetence.

Not only was this election called at very short notice, but part of that time the local authorities were dealing with local elections as well. So two elections to manage while dealing with massive staffing cuts. Having worked in democratic services at county level over a number of local elections I really do not envy the staff in the local councils having to sort this out. It is a bloody complicated and hard job. I think these issues sound mostly like admin screw ups and are probably in the most part more human error then conspiracy. I also think people are probably taking more notice in marginal constituencies as you are more likely to get serious complaints about it where people think it may have a real impact.

CIV I showed my husband who said 'they should have told her to tick next to L for TM'.

Lazybastet could you log this and submit it to electoral commission, and unless it was a tory vote contact local labour party for advice. Lots of reports on twitter of this, and labour is advising.

Done.

DH was all geared up to call the police and everything if his name wasn't on the list after I'd spent 5 mins before telling him about all this admin errors.

It was.

That story about the UKIP lady really doesn't help the stereotypes does it?

I thought you weren't allowed to discuss who you voted for with officials.

Now. The Wait.

I shall get my 'Stato' head on and get ready for everything tonight.

More importantly, work out what alcohol I have available for consumption tonight.

How bad does this have to get before we are forced to go and vote again? Would it mean everyone or by elections where there were known issues?

I have never ever seen a queue at my polling station. Currently in a queue of about 50.

Brilliant!

I have just voted. Streams of people coming and going and did feel very busy but as I usually vote in the morning I can't say for certain if it's out of the ordinary.

The Scottish Episcopal Church has officially just become the first Anglican Church in the UK to allow same sex marriages in Church. Vote just passed.

"So is all this a matter of incompetence or something more sinister, given that it seems to be happening a lot in marginals?"

I have almost completed my naturalisation. According to a couple of Fb groups I'm on (3million and UK CEN) the application process is currently taking longer than previously and we were casually musing whether there had been an unofficial temporary freeze on citizenship application until after the elections.

Could this be happening? I am literally days away from being a British citizens and it would have felt empowering to be able to vote. The labour candidate in my area is brilliant, and I would have loved to support him such a shame. It would have been great to have a voice.

Ha ha - I had male version of Ukip lady at my polling station. We've had a few queues in the past couple of hours - absolutely tonnes of first-time voters of all ages.

I think my gran who forgot her postal vote is a UKIP lady. When she was talking about whether the police would come because she hadn't voted, she told my Mum she didn't know who to vote for, but her neighbour had told her UKIP.

UKIP aren't standing in her constituency.

I bet there are lots of very confused Kippers across the country.

I wonder how confused kippers is counted in polling?

Red - thanks for posting the info on Yarl's Wood. My work brcccings me into contact with those detained there. Even as a life long leftie, from my first contact on 2007 onwards (so under Govts of various stripes) I have never felt so ashamed of my country.