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Queues at polling stations

(76 Posts)
ayse Thu 12-Dec-19 11:53:30

I think this is worth a mention as it is all over Facebook and has been mentioned on other threads.

This is good news that so many more people are voting whatever the outcome. Our ancestors worked so hard for universal suffrage.

nanaK54 Thu 12-Dec-19 14:25:57

When I asked our lovely polling clerks if they had been busy their reply was "constant" - their usual reply is "steady"
I live in a very small village and there were two people leaving as DH and I entered, we soon joined by two others

jura2 Thu 12-Dec-19 14:39:02

I imagine places where a tactical vote can make a big difference will be much busier that others where a large majority either way is unlikely to make a difference.

Pittcity Thu 12-Dec-19 15:54:50

Do you have to leave your pets outside the polling station?

Whitewavemark2 Thu 12-Dec-19 16:11:00

Our polling station the busiest I’ve ever seen it likewise when DH voted this morning.

Weather is absolutely diabolical, everyone trudging into the station, hoods up.

Urmstongran Thu 12-Dec-19 16:12:32

Oh varian the Tories and their friends in the media have spent colossal amounts of money and are confident of getting in

Please tell me you’re not already lining up your protestations for the result? Oh no?

‘this election was fraudulent because .....’
?

Ilovecheese Thu 12-Dec-19 16:23:25

Pittcity Our polling station had a poster asking people not to bring their dogs inside.

tanith Thu 12-Dec-19 16:31:18

Only me voting in my polling station.

BlueBelle Thu 12-Dec-19 16:39:38

I went at 8 30 am usually meet workers but not a soul just me

Witzend Thu 12-Dec-19 16:40:06

Very quiet at ours, residential area outer SW London, just after 4 pm, but I've never seen it very busy.
We were in and out in about 3 minutes.

Curlywhirly Thu 12-Dec-19 16:43:36

Oh Ilovecheese, the spoil sports! (Can't you tell I am an animal lover ???) We always walk the dog to the Polling Station and take her inside, the Polling Staff are usually glad of a little diversion, and give her a stroke ? Seriously though, maybe they have put the sign up because it is very wet and busy.

Jane10 Thu 12-Dec-19 16:47:45

jura I can and will cast aspersions regarding a person who I know does not live at the address he was giving. There aren't that many flats in our building. He was thrown when I questioned him. He was ahead of me in the queue (of the two of us). Luckily the polling staff were similarly suspicious and he was led away to another room.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 12-Dec-19 16:51:18

Just had an e-mail from liar Johnson saying that there is a very high Labour turnout so get out and vote.

Don’t know how he knows and almost certainly a lie.

Johnson 1% ahead in his constituency, so if you are in Uxbridge use your vote and get rid of the liar.

Fennel Thu 12-Dec-19 17:01:51

"Johnson 1% ahead in his constituency, so if you are in Uxbridge use your vote and get rid of the liar."
Or pray - "Please God turn the tide against him".

Whitewavemark2 Thu 12-Dec-19 17:03:40

I know fennel . Jitter jitter jitter????

Callistemon Thu 12-Dec-19 17:12:59

DH visited an elderly unwell friend this morning and the friend's wife had a phone call while DH was there offering them a lift to the polling station.

She told them they had already voted by post.
I thought they would have noted that on the list.

varian Thu 12-Dec-19 17:16:46

Woody Allen observed that 80% of success is just showing up. Boris Johnson does not subscribe to that particular wisdom. If there is a strategy to his election campaign, it would seem to be that the prime minister does his best work in absentia.

Our fearless would-be leader has cancelled bakery visits in Glastonbury and pub meet-and-greets in Rochester (citing security concerns about the five protesters outside). He sent his old man along in his place to the Channel 4 leaders’ climate debate and has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the gauntlet chucked in his direction by Andrew Neil. The Tories began this campaign calling Jeremy Corbyn chicken. They have gone quiet with that taunt now.

Johnson appears to have been particularly tricky to locate in his home constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. The empty chair in Neil’s BBC studio was mirrored on Thursday night at the planned hustings event in Yiewsley Baptist Church. Sitting prime ministers usually take a degree of pride in their commitment to their constituents – even Theresa May felt duty bound to face up to the heckles of hunt saboteurs in Maidenhead Methodist hall in 2017. Not this prime minister. The hustings debate had been rearranged in an effort to accommodate Johnson’s diary. He was a no-show anyhow.

The arrogance may yet bite him. One of the things being tested in this campaign is the idea that our leaders can pick and choose the kind of scrutiny they subject themselves to. The intention was well-illustrated on the final Saturday of campaigning in the Tory-leaning South Ruislip side of Johnson’s constituency, where the prime minister’s principal opponent in this campaign, Labour’s Ali Milani, was once again out on the stump with 40 or 50 volunteers, the first of his day’s three shifts.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/07/uxbridge-election-campaign-johnson-tory-labour-challenge

Callistemon Thu 12-Dec-19 17:17:01

Jane10 you were probably right to be suspicious and the polling staff were suspicious too.
I presume that you, like me, know your neighbours.

NannyJan53 Thu 12-Dec-19 17:18:20

Went to vote just after 7am. It was very busy.

Hoping against hope Tories do not win!

oldgoat Thu 12-Dec-19 18:20:23

No dogs were allowed into the polling station where I was acting as a teller and neither were the tellers who had to stand right outside in the pouring rain. The person in charge wouldn't even allow me inside to use the lavatory!
The highlight of the day was when the LibDem teller told me that she'd voted Labour.

Cabbie21 Thu 12-Dec-19 18:47:32

Ours was quite busy at 10.45 am but then it is market day so there are always people in town on Thursdays.

ExperiencedNotOld Thu 12-Dec-19 18:59:24

Jane10. Have you considered that he may live away but for various reasons has registered at a convenient address? Anyone can hold a proxy vote on behalf of another, if nominated. But there’s nothing to stop the individual doing it themself if around.

kittylester Thu 12-Dec-19 19:03:20

In our large village, which has recently grown quite a lot with lots of new estates, we have now have 2 polling stations rather than 1. Our allocated one was empty apart from dh and I and, when we went to the other one to cast a proxy vote, there was nobody there either.

Jane10 Thu 12-Dec-19 19:05:25

I think you should have seen him. He doesn't live in our flats. I know all our residents. He didn't have convincing paperwork or actual answers. I have, naturally, considered alternative explanations. Looks like the polling staff weren't convinced either.

TwiceAsNice Thu 12-Dec-19 19:05:51

Myself and two daughters voted at 5pm. In a queue to do so. People going and arriving all the time. On the way out one of the tellers said it was the biggest turn out he’d seen and there was still 5 hours left to vote. I’m glad more people are making the effort I’m annoyed when people don’t vote the right to vote was very hard won.

jura2 Thu 12-Dec-19 19:11:50

Exactly ExperiencedNotOld - there are many totally valid reasons why the person may not be a permanent resident at this address. Did you wait to see what happened after he was interviewed.

Not saying that he was not a fraud - but he may well not have been- and legit.