Reports of Queues of people unable to vote?

[masterwig 10]

Ah lass is a Dutch national, works here, resident in UK and pays NI and Income tax so entitled to local election vote but the two old ladies in our polling station gave her a national voting slip as well, she handed it back saying she was not eligable to vote and the two old ladies, bless 'em looked so confused.

 

I voted postally for my home address and went to vote in the local elections in Sheffield (being eligible to vote in local elections both at home and in Sheffield where I study and live most of the year but only able to vote once in the general election) and they had no idea that I had used a postal vote. The bloke said to me I could vote in the general election here and I had to insist I couldn't. Does this all mean my postal vote was lost in the post or simply that the system is so lax that I could have voted twice?

 

Big changes have to be made.

[Funky_Gibbon 42]

i think the point is that normally this doesn't happen and they figured the queues would die down. it still doesn't mean that in a fair and democratic election they should be denied a vote.

 

The point is that they missed their chance to vote solely because they didn't want to queue. How many other people did exactly what they did? No wonder there were hundreds queueing at the end of the day when they all realised they had no choice but to queue. I've got lots of sympathy for anyone who simply couldn't get to the stations before 9pm but none for people who turned up at 6, 7, and 8pm but couldn't be arsed to stand there.

[ECCOnoob 1,050]

Dread to think what gonna happen as the night goes on...

 

In the words of the simpsons... "cant this town go one day without a riot!"

[AtticusFinch 10]

This is now on the Guardian website:

 

David Wheeler, who was turned away at Gleadless Valley polling station in Sheffield, said: "There were hundreds of us queuing up in the rain, but they closed the doors at 10 bang on the dot. We tried to argue with them, told them we had the right to vote, but they said they had been open since seven. About 100 of us were turned away."

 

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Can anyone confirm this?

[*RTC* 10]

Dread to think what gonna happen as the night goes on...

 

In the words of the simpsons... "cant this town go one day without a riot!"

 

Haha brilliant! Not this week! haha

[go4it 10]

The point is that they missed their chance to vote solely because they didn't want to queue. How many other people did exactly what they did? No wonder there were hundreds queueing at the end of the day when they all realised they had no choice but to queue. I've got lots of sympathy for anyone who simply couldn't get to the stations before 9pm but none for people who turned up at 6, 7, and 8pm but couldn't be arsed to stand there.

 

People in the third world would queue a lot longer to vote, and walk many many miles to cast a vote.

 

You've summed up 9 pages of rant into 3 lines - spot on.

[dicky_doodle 10]

John Mothersole needs to be SACKED IMMEDIATLY for this debacle, first he alienates 19,000 council workers with his PAY AND DE-GRADING reforms and then as returning officer DENIES the voters of Sheffield their constitutional rights !

 

The best bit is we pay him over £100,000 a year to do these things.

 

He should walk around with oversized floppy shoes and a red nose on he a <removed>clown

 

Edited May 6, 2010 by KTHFB
masked swearing

[punckass 10]

fair enough it is lazy. i would be queuing if necessary to make sure my vote counts. point is:

 

1) it should be better organised to avoid ridiculous queues.

2) even if you turn up at 9.59pm you should be allowed to vote. no matter if you have some long winded reason why you couldn't vote in the previous 14 hours 59 minutes or whether you just couldn't be arsed. what's next, an extenuating circumstances form?

[punckass 10]

People in the third world would queue a lot longer to vote, and walk many many miles to cast a vote.

 

You've summed up 9 pages of rant into 3 lines - spot on.

 

wow, sheffield can organise a vote marginally better than a 3rd world country. something to be proud of...

[votingsystem 10]

People in the third world would queue a lot longer to vote, and walk many many miles to cast a vote.

 

You've summed up 9 pages of rant into 3 lines - spot on.

 

You're absolutely right, that we are incredibly lucky to have this apparently great democracy, and polling stations close enough not to have to walk miles, but the fact remains that some of us have jobs and lives that don't allow us the -by British standards-luxury of standing for hours in a queue. If you can do that, and be patronising about those that can't, then I hope you realise how lucky you are.

[*RTC* 10]

2) even if you turn up at 9.59pm you should be allowed to vote. No matter if you have some long winded reason why you couldn't vote in the previous 14 hours 59 minutes or whether you just couldn't be arsed. What's next, an extenuating circumstances form?

 

exactly!!!

[KTHFB 10]

I worked today, and we had over 3 times as much of a turn-out where I was than normal. Have to say though, all our voters got their papers (unless there were not elligible to vote), and if there were a queue before 10.00 pm, I would have let them in to vote. Anyone TURNING UP after 10 though would have been turned away. It may have taken a bit of time, but they would all have go their voting slips.