Reports of Queues of people unable to vote?

[plekhanov 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.

Why should there be separate queues at all? We are supposed to be equal citizens in this country one queue for 'residents' and another for students is completely unacceptable.

[punckass 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.

 

 

yeah its true, my sister was up there, got to vote after 2 hours. lots of angry students, even police saying denying people their vote was illegal apparently!

[Pook 10]

That sound about right to me. I've met a number of students who thought they could vote without a polling card.

 

 

you can vote without a polling card.

[milquetoast1 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.

 

What's the turnout here? 30-40% of people not bothering to vote, and you're having a go at those that make the effort.

 

Some of these people, like votingsystem, have made extra effort to rush home in time and then had the door shut in their face.

[Guest sibon]

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?

 

 

Well, no. By the same principle, you can hardly expect "the system" to be able to magically predict a last minute surge. The polls close at 10pm. Had they stayed open, I suspect that there would have been serious legal implications.

[*RTC* 10]

If they are in the Queue why shouldn't they be able to vote! For crying out loud this is ridiculous. People should postal vote whereby they have a week to send it in or open the voting stations for 2 or 3 days.

People should never be turned away to vote.

[Darth Vader 10]

Well, no. By the same principle, you can hardly expect "the system" to be able to magically predict a last minute surge. The polls close at 10pm. Had they stayed open, I suspect that there would have been serious legal implications.

 

This wasn't a last minute surge though. Please read the posts on this thread where posters say they have been waiting two hours, and many returning as they went earlier in the day, and could not wait that long in their dinner hours, or had kids to collect, etc.

 

Other polling stations have allowed those queueing up to 10pm to vote, even up to 45 mins after closing.

 

Wasn't there speak of a campaign to get Nick out of his seat by students? As others have said, the 'student' and 'resident' queues is a scandal.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Darth Vader

[SYorksDeano 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.

 

 

Confirmed on Sky and BBC

[plekhanov 10]

Well, no. By the same principle, you can hardly expect "the system" to be able to magically predict a last minute surge. The polls close at 10pm. Had they stayed open, I suspect that there would have been serious legal implications.

"last minute surge" Don't be obtuse, as has already been pointed out to you several times some people queued for over 2 hours.

 

 

over 2 hours.

[happyhippy 11]

Well, no. By the same principle, you can hardly expect "the system" to be able to magically predict a last minute surge. The polls close at 10pm. Had they stayed open, I suspect that there would have been serious legal implications.

 

Some reportedly did stay open, as just mentioned on the BBC again.

[rubydazzler 11]

This is a problem, I wouldn't trust a postal vote when I'm in the area anyway. It might not get delivered or something could happen.

 

You expect to be able to vote between the hours the polling station is open, but you don't expect to be waiting in a queue for an hour or more. Dimbley says it's a scandal! Chaos is the word being bandied about, shambles more like!

 

And you don't need a polling card to cast your vote, so it doesn't save any time at all. Some people have actually voted after the exit poll was published, there's bound to be some legal challenges ....

 

Sunderland Central - Labour hold.

[votingsystem 10]

I completely agree with you RTC -surely if you're in the queue to vote and you joined that queue before the end of voting time, then your intention was to vote and you should be allowed to. Just spoken to my sister in Coventry,she walked straight in and voted, it just isn't reasonable that you should have to think to allow a couple of hours to do something that has only ever taken minutes before..