Some voters were queueing for over an hour before being turned away. I don't think it's too unreasonable to think that going to the polling station an hour before it closes will give you enough time to vote.
From the mother country that likes to preach to other countries about there elections we have a few lessons to learn about this farce! Paper and pencils have perhaps had there day, why not have online, and other technology! Our local library was not even open in Bexley Village and could have been used !. Reports of running out of ballott papers!, complete farce!.
Why people leave it so late I have no idea, but if they cannot cope with the hordes, they could have signed the polling cards, and told them to return in an hour !
The result was not announced till the following day anyway! in most cases anyway!...
If 500 people turn up to vote 15 minutes before 10pm.... that is the job of the officials who manage our elections to have a back up position...... What happens if there is a power cut!...... fire,unexploded bomb, gas cannisters, someone stabbed, etc etc......dissapoints but does not surprise me! ...... the type of chaos this country revels in!......
By being compulsory in Oz it must be a lot easier to judge how many people will vote: something like all of them. Over here it's more difficult to estimate: two friends of mine were supervising stations only a few miles apart, one had a 53% turn out, the other over 80%. This was because another station had been closed since the last election and not enough resources had been allocated to the remaining station to cope with the extra nuumbers. Extra people are available from the Town Hall but Presiding Officers are reluctant to use them as they think they should be able to cope with what they have.
[cite]Posted By: March51[/cite]...Extra people are available from the Town Hall but Presiding Officers are reluctant to use them as they think they should be able to cope with what they have.
The thing is, extra people can only do so much (direct people to the right booth, keep the pencils sharp, cover for loo breaks and things like that). It doesn't matter how many extra people you have, you still only get one copy of the register and only one person can work with that at the time.
Very true, and only one official stamp. But reading the papers today it would seem the whole thing needs looking at: 27 people registered at one small flat? We've relied on trust for too long and though it riles me for our system to be criticised by 'outsiders' they have a point or two on this election.
Firstly, General Elections are funded by Central not Local Government - so spending cuts don't enter into it.
Secondly, there is only one register of electors for each polling station - so you could put 100 polling clerks on duty, but only one can check and mark the register of electors when people come into vote.
Thirdly, if you really believe a Tory Council have not put enough people on duty as most of the voters are students, and therefore labour supporters, you are an arse.
Fourthly, I've been a presiding officer at an election when, despite all my preparations, the idiot who held the key to the hall where the election was being held in, turned up an hour late. Everybody who came to vote in that first hour were able to, in private (the front seat of my car) and put their paper into a secure ballot box (in the boot of my car). Things go wrong in almost every polling station and welll trained presiding officers should deal with it professionally.
Finally, there was not a problem with people voting at 99% of polling stations throughout the country.
Edit for March51 - the official stamp was removed from the 2005 election - always was a waste of time unless there was a recount.
[cite]Posted By: Addickted[/cite]Thirdly, if you really believe a Tory Council have not put enough people on duty as most of the voters are students, and therefore labour supporters, you are an arse.
I think everyone is aware of what an arse harveryandfloyd is anyway.
[cite]Posted By: Kap10[/cite]
[cite]Posted By: Addickted[/cite]Finally, there was not a problem with people voting at 99% of polling stations throughout the country
Unless your the 1%
Even if you was in the 1%, there wasnt a problem in the other 99%
Comments
Paper and pencils have perhaps had there day, why not have online, and other technology!
Our local library was not even open in Bexley Village and could have been used !. Reports of running out of ballott papers!, complete farce!.
Why people leave it so late I have no idea, but if they cannot cope with the hordes, they could have signed the polling cards, and told them to return in an hour !
The result was not announced till the following day anyway! in most cases anyway!...
If 500 people turn up to vote 15 minutes before 10pm.... that is the job of the officials who manage our elections to have a back up position...... What happens if there is a power cut!...... fire,unexploded bomb, gas cannisters, someone stabbed, etc etc......dissapoints but does not surprise me! ...... the type of chaos this country revels in!......
It's compulsary to vote here in Oz, if you dont, you recieve a fine.
The thing is, extra people can only do so much (direct people to the right booth, keep the pencils sharp, cover for loo breaks and things like that). It doesn't matter how many extra people you have, you still only get one copy of the register and only one person can work with that at the time.
Secondly, there is only one register of electors for each polling station - so you could put 100 polling clerks on duty, but only one can check and mark the register of electors when people come into vote.
Thirdly, if you really believe a Tory Council have not put enough people on duty as most of the voters are students, and therefore labour supporters, you are an arse.
Fourthly, I've been a presiding officer at an election when, despite all my preparations, the idiot who held the key to the hall where the election was being held in, turned up an hour late. Everybody who came to vote in that first hour were able to, in private (the front seat of my car) and put their paper into a secure ballot box (in the boot of my car). Things go wrong in almost every polling station and welll trained presiding officers should deal with it professionally.
Finally, there was not a problem with people voting at 99% of polling stations throughout the country.
Edit for March51 - the official stamp was removed from the 2005 election - always was a waste of time unless there was a recount.
Unless your the 1%
I think everyone is aware of what an arse harveryandfloyd is anyway.
Even if you was in the 1%, there wasnt a problem in the other 99%