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It would seem that many hundreds of voters have not been able to vote !

There have been many polling booths that have had very long queues, some stretching 'round the block'. Closing time is 10 pm nationwide, and it is a legal requirement. There was such a big turnout for voting so when doors were closed at 10 pm there has been much anger by those who were shut out! Many had been queueing for over an hour in the pouring rain.

However one polling station stayed open another 10 minutes to allow the remainder of a queue to get in to vote. However the legality of this may come into question. Particularly if the voting results are close !

Some of the polling stations ran out of voting forms, so some people could not vote! Some polling stations had out-of-date voters lists, so that some peoples' names were not on the list so they were not permitted to vote !!!!

This is an absolute farce!!!!!!

Scandalous, pathetic !!!!

I can see the headlines in the press tomorrow, and the headlines on TV news broadcasts. Could this mean that there may be a repeat election proposed?

The whole fiasco will only encourage shouts of 'fix' I'm sure. It is disgusting !

Police have been called in other places where refused voters are furious.

People knew the polls closed at 10pm, and yet they didn't give voting enough priority to arrange their lives so they could come out before 9pm??????



I'm watching the BBC count. About half way.

Gill, you really do use intemperate language over issues which don't warrant it.

The rules are hard and fast, the operation of the election at each constituency is solely in the hands of the returning officer, the law governing elections dictates that nobody may be issued with a ballot paper beyond 10pm. If some polling station officers interpret that as not wandering down a queue outside of the polling station handing out ballot papers minutes before 10pm for subsequent processing then that, to my mind, seems entirely reasonable.

By all means change the rules if you can dream up something you'd regard as "fairer" but I'd be interested to know what mayhem you'd recommend in place of the current ones.

There are times when you seem indistinguishable from the unlamented Panto Andy.

It is pretty bad though. One polling station ran out of ballets as there were not prepared for a high turnout. I would be p1ssed it I missed my chance to vote, however I always go and vote first thing in the morning before I go to work.

I understand next time we are inviting Election Observers from some third world African country...........:yh_rotfl

spot;1308577 wrote: Gill, you really do use intemperate language over issues which don't warrant it.

The rules are hard and fast, the operation of the election at each constituency is solely in the hands of the returning officer, the law governing elections dictates that nobody may be issued with a ballot paper beyond 10pm. If some polling station officers interpret that as not wandering down a queue outside of the polling station handing out ballot papers minutes before 10pm for subsequent processing then that, to my mind, seems entirely reasonable.

By all means change the rules if you can dream up something you'd regard as "fairer" but I'd be interested to know what mayhem you'd recommend in place of the current ones.

There are times when you seem indistinguishable from the unlamented Panto Andy.




How dare you................................... that is flaming !



As regards your first comments, I was passing an opinion, which I am entitled to do, am I not?

I was expressing my disgust at the farce portrayed at certain polling stations - bad enough that people were locked out, so could not vote (many had been waiting in a queue for nearly 2 hours in the rain! This is something that people, rightly, don't expect to have to do!) This was down to lack of anticipating a heavy turnout and bringing in enough staff to handle the very large numbers! Judging from the mood of the country's voting public, it should have been expected that many more people would make an effort to vote this time.

Unforgivable that some polling stations did not have sufficient ballot papers for the voters ! This last item I just cannot understand - all polling stations have lists and quantities of voters in their particular area - why the hell they didn't total up the voters likely to vote, then double or even treble the quantity of ballot papers required as a 'just in case' scenario, I have no idea !

My comments, opinions, are probably the same as many other people's.

G#Gill;1308610 wrote:



How dare you................................... that is flaming !



As regards your first comments, I was passing an opinion, which I am entitled to do, am I not?

I was expressing my disgust at the farce portrayed at certain polling stations - bad enough that people were locked out, so could not vote (many had been waiting in a queue for nearly 2 hours in the rain! This is something that people, rightly, don't expect to have to do!) This was down to lack of anticipating a heavy turnout and bringing in enough staff to handle the very large numbers! Judging from the mood of the country's voting public, it should have been expected that many more people would make an effort to vote this time.

Unforgivable that some polling stations did not have sufficient ballot papers for the voters ! This last item I just cannot understand - all polling stations have lists and quantities of voters in their particular area - why the hell they didn't total up the voters likely to vote, then double or even treble the quantity of ballot papers required as a 'just in case' scenario, I have no idea !

My comments, opinions, are probably the same as many other people's.


It should be standard, regardless of expected turnout, that each polling station holds as many papers as there are people registered to vote at that station.

As to the queues, the most extreme claim I saw reported was a guy who'd tuned up at 21:40 thinking that would be "plenty of time". The most stupid was a woman who'd turned up three times - once before work and it was busy so she skipped it, then at 18:00 when it was packed so she went away then came back before closing and was surprised to find it was busy and she missed out.

I class the former as an unfortunate misjudgement on the voters part and the latter as totally her own fault - she knew turnout was heavy and queues were big but her time was worth more to her than voting.

I saw a whole bunch of news reports which said lots of people had been turned away etc, supporting what G#Gill said, hence my comments. I was rather surprised at Spot's outburst. Maybe he's stressed by the results... I'm still watching the count.

Bryn Mawr;1308617 wrote: It should be standard, regardless of expected turnout, that each polling station holds as many papers as there are people registered to vote at that station.

As to the queues, the most extreme claim I saw reported was a guy who'd tuned up at 21:40 thinking that would be "plenty of time". The most stupid was a woman who'd turned up three times - once before work and it was busy so she skipped it, then at 18:00 when it was packed so she went away then came back before closing and was surprised to find it was busy and she missed out.

I class the former as an unfortunate misjudgement on the voters part and the latter as totally her own fault - she knew turnout was heavy and queues were big but her time was worth more to her than voting.


I think her behaviour was far from stupid...she tried her utmost to cast her vote.

AussiePam;1308618 wrote: I saw a whole bunch of news reports which said lots of people had been turned away etc, supporting what G#Gill said, hence my comments. I was rather surprised at Spot's outburst. Maybe he's stressed by the results... I'm still watching the count.


I really don't see that the polling stations had any choice in the matter - to have accepted posts after 22:00 would have risked the poll being declared null and void, but I agree that Spot's wrapper paragraphs were unnecessary and unhelpful.

Scrat;1308895 wrote: So the vote in Britain is during the workweek? It seems to me it should be on the weekend when people have more time on their hands. Can't have that though.


Ours are done on a weekday, everyone is allowed 4 hours off work to vote.

our polls close at 8pm sharp.

UK elections are Thursdays, I can't remember a time when they were anything else.

There were reports that problems were in Bristol in the press yet i'm unaware of any constituancy having such a problem here.

As we live next door to the school where the voting was held i can state that ours was empty by 9 pm with only the odd straggler. As usual the entire operation was proffessional and well organised.

I have little sympathy for the people shut out as rules are rules and must be abided by. Any employer, university or any office will allow staff time out to vote between the given times. It is an event that takes place once every five years or so and i believe people should make an effort if voting is so important to them. The reason the polling stations open so early in the morning is so people can make an effort to get out of bed earlier should they have a busy day. Polling stations are not far and few between meaning that anyone has to travel miles to vote. Most are within the community and within easy reach. Like most things in life, if you leave anything to the last minute it is likely to go wrong. I see they want financial compensation now but for what? Not being able to organise one day in five years? Most Candidates will even offer free travel to polling stations should they have difficulty in getting there and there is postal voting so i see no excuse.

spot;1308577 wrote:

There are times when you seem indistinguishable from the unlamented Panto Andy. If you think pantoandy is long gone Spot then you are not as observant as i gave you credit for.

Peter Lake;1308962 wrote: There were reports that problems were in Bristol in the press yet i'm unaware of any constituancy having such a problem here.

As we live next door to the school where the voting was held i can state that ours was empty by 9 pm with only the odd straggler. As usual the entire operation was proffessional and well organised.

I have little sympathy for the people shut out as rules are rules and must be abided by. Any employer, university or any office will allow staff time out to vote between the given times. It is an event that takes place once every five years or so and i believe people should make an effort if voting is so important to them. The reason the polling stations open so early in the morning is so people can make an effort to get out of bed earlier should they have a busy day. Polling stations are not far and few between meaning that anyone has to travel miles to vote. Most are within the community and within easy reach. Like most things in life, if you leave anything to the last minute it is likely to go wrong. I see they want financial compensation now but for what? Not being able to organise one day in five years? Most Candidates will even offer free travel to polling stations should they have difficulty in getting there and there is postal voting so i see no excuse.


It's not always possible to get a day off work and some people will travel and hour or two just to get to and from work. If people turn up at five minutes to 10 you might have a point but in some cased people queued for and two hours or more and got shut out. They I think have a right to ask questions. It shouldn't be too hard to work out when the polls are likely to be busy and arrange extra staff if necessary.