Reports of Queues of people unable to vote?

[plekhanov 10]

i should mention that the 'permanent resident' queue was processed quicker... and we call this democracy?

I can confirm this, I'd heard of the trouble at Ranmoor and as I was going past in on my way home went up to have a look.

 

There was a very big queue an old woman who had just come out thought I was trying to vote correctly judged me not to be a student and said there was a smaller 'residents queue to the left' which students weren't allowed in. It was like something out of segregation era deep south.

 

The returning officers at Ranmoor seem to have been actively discriminating against students. This is truly abhorrent, an absolute disgrace and whoever was responsible for this should face serious consequences.

[votingsystem 10]

I'm not aware of people queueing for hours. That is obviously not acceptable. If someone turned up at, say, 9.30 and didn't get to vote, then thay shouldn't be surprised.

 

There were no queues at 7.30 this morning, when I voted. Nor at 5pm tonight, when I passed my local polling station. A bit of personal responsibility is called for here.

 

Why???? I worked today-in a rubbishly paid job- from 8 til 8. I got the bus at 7 to get to work in time cos bus services are so poor that I have to wait around. I got home just before nine, spent 10 minutes with my kids, then walked ten minutes to the polling station, to arrive just before nine thirty. I did get to vote, but don't you dare tell me that if I hadn't that I need to take responsibilty for that, don't you dare!!!!!!

[happyhippy 11]

This is interesting. According to the BBC, one polling station in Lewisham opened until 22:30 to allow people still in the queue to vote. Another polling station in Birmingham let everyone still in the room at 22:00 remain in the room to vote, but closed the doors to everyone else.

 

Is Mothersole therefore right to say that the voting times could not be extended, or could exceptions have been made?

 

I was about to add the same.

[punckass 10]

How is just having 2 queues "outrageous discrimination"? How do you know it wasn't the residents being treated as second class citizens and not the students? Were the people in the student queue being abused and made to clean floors while they waited? "Outrageous discrimination"? Outrageous claim by you is nearer to the truth.

 

no need to get sarky! see my following post... 'permanent residents' were given priority. i understand it is annoying if you live there all year round but every one has an equal right to vote. from what i understand it was largely students who were left unable to vote in the end.

[AtticusFinch 10]

This just in on Twitter:

 

RT @charlotte0387: BREAKING STORY: voters turned away at ranmoor polling station are refusing to let the ballot box out of the building. Police there.

 

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Can anyone confirm this? The girl who posted it is a Sheffield uni student.

 

[lozzie624 10]

I went at 6pm and was surprised at how many young people were there which was fantastic. There were queues but only 20mins.

 

But we do need political reform thou

[votingsystem 10]

i have never posted on a forum before, but i am so angry that people think its ok to blame people who turned up in good time and good faith to vote, within the timescale that they were told, and are now told, its your fault, you should have been there before.. How lucky you are if you can do that easily, but if you can't, should you be penalised????

[bunkey 10]

The classic chestnut - we have lots of rights but with these rights come responsibility.

 

People want rights but don't want any responsibility.

 

erm voters turned up before the alloted time and are unable to vote, how is that not being responsible??

[RJK3 10]

How is just having 2 queues "outrageous discrimination"? How do you know it wasn't the residents being treated as second class citizens and not the students? Were the people in the student queue being abused and made to clean floors while they waited? "Outrageous discrimination"?

 

Because the residents line was MUCH shorter than that of the students, so residents were able to get in far sooner than the students. All votes are equal under your laws, so the OP is entirely correct that this is discriminative.

 

There were people who were only able to vote after waiting more than two hours in line.

 

Admittedly I used the residents line, being a resident, but I recognised the unfairness for what it was. Not that it mattered, since I was excluded from voting despite waiting more than an hour.

[plekhanov 10]

I'm not aware of people queueing for hours. That is obviously not acceptable. If someone turned up at, say, 9.30 and didn't get to vote, then they shouldn't be surprised.

 

There were no queues at 7.30 this morning, when I voted. Nor at 5pm tonight, when I passed my local polling station. A bit of personal responsibility is called for here.

Why should individual citizens take 'personal responsibility' for the system failing?

 

Are they supposed to magically predict that there will suddenly be huge delays or something meaning they should leave several hours free for a task that should take minutes?

[xgrifterx 10]

direct action in ranmoor -fab. power to the people. i am off for some shut eye now. we will see what happens/ has happened in the morning. it'll all come out in the wash so to speak. i am still very annoyed about the muck up over my proxy, it'll summat to tell the grandkids thagt SCC stoped me voting!

night all - happy posting.

[stillonhere 10]

I voted in the Hallam constituency at Millhouses church, as I do at every election and I have never seen the same size queue before. I got there about 6 (earliest I could do from work/collecting kids from after school club, etc) and there must have been about 50 people in front of me. The odd thing was though, that whilst they had 6 voting booths, they only had two people checking names and handing out voting slips. The whole time I was there, I only ever saw 3 of the booths occupied at the same time. I just thought they needed more staff and/or a better process.