The unofficial 2nd EU referundum taking place today 23rd May 2019

As I previously pointed out Witzend, a poll at the weekend found that 49% said they were voting to indicate their preference re Brexit or the EU. I appreciate that if you and you friends see it that way you may think everyone does but that simply isn't true.

Any kind of brexit would be hugely expensive - and not just in economic terms.

We did the same whitewave.
By-elections are always an opportunity to protest against the incumbent government. This is no different but it will be hugely expensive.

Yes one of us voted Lib Dem the other Green - hedging our bets

EllanVannin they were very long forms!

Hope he/she voted Lib Dem!

Ahhh...tiny tot.

Waiting outside

They had a light hearted poll in our town centre last week which is in a Brexit area. Display board showed strong majority for Remain, but ofcourse it was self selecting, as this thread is. I voted Lib Dem today, but am in a street of Brexiters .

Of course it's not officially a 2nd referendum, GracesGran, but masses of people are voting as if it were, i.e.for the party that best supports Remain or Leave, as the case may be.

I suspect that a lot of people who usually vote Labour will be putting their X elsewhere, ditto disaffected Tories. Presumably habitual LD or SNP supporters will mostly be voting as usual.

So your level of knowledge is that the electoral commission has nothing to do with our elections Gabriella? You may have just changed my view of Brexiteers completely.

The ballot box was so chock full the woman was poking the votes down with a stick. Looks like the world and its dog turned out here. This was 6.15pm.

It most certainly isn't Firecracker. I do see that there are people who take our democracy light heartedly, never learning about how it actually works, etc. Until and after mine is taken away by people who treat it as a joke assisting in that process I will defend it.

It is a legal requirement for all member countries to hold MEP elections at this time. The UK is a member country and most UK citizens want us to remain in the EU so those elected today could make an important contribution in the coming years.

Do not vote for a wrecker. That would do us all a disservice. Vote for a candidate who will represent the UK well and speak up for our interests.

Seems to me we are only holding this election to be polite to the EU. As we know, all existing members have to have this election for it to be valid. We can';t possibly cause them any more trouble!

It IS totally pointless from our point of view.No matter what some know-it-all kind poster has pointed out to me on the thread.

It's a " throw-away " vote from me !

Each council chooses their method of posting voting papers. Either RM or another company which I've not heard of before, Adare SEC, which diverts mail through the Netherlands regardless of where it's destination is.
The government and some councils have not put clear info on their websites to let expats and EU nationals know the hows and whens of applying for the forms needed to vote in any one country and, more importantly, the date by which they had to be returned (May 7th) to the issuing office.
Adere SEC say that all mail was delivered within the approved timescale.
The Electoral Commission had nothing to do with it. Local councils each made their own arrangements.

It'll be interesting to see what the result is. It looks as though the turn-out is pretty low (so far). I asked the young woman at the desk if they'd had many people coming in to vote and she said that I was only the 20th person she'd seen - it was almost mid-day.

Yes. I hope that there is nothing to it but it is worrying.

The U.K. has never been queried over its democratic process.

But honestly, is there anything that is right since the Tories came to office?

GracesGran don't participate then for goodness sake it's only a light hearted thread on Gransnet.

Whitewave it looks as if the electoral commission is getting involved and I notice Gina Miller is taking an interest too.

Firecracker why on earth do you believe that an election for one purpose should be seen as a referendum for another. It really does come over as an attempt to deprive certain British citizens of their right to democracy but it seems it's just a joke to you.

I didn’t get to vote in the first referendum as we were living in Germany (which may be pertinent to issues raised earlier about ex-pats). It was a blanket ban. Living abroad = no say in the matter.

Best of three, I say.

In passing I was no 39 at my polling station to-day;at 4. pm.; such interest.

Actually, we have already had 2 referenda re staying in the EU/Common Market.