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Queues, chaos and criticism as polling stations turn voters away
Benedict Moore-Bridger and Justin Davenport7 May 2010
Police were called to polling stations in London after protests by electors unable to cast their vote.
Hundreds of voters across several boroughs were barred as huge queues formed before polling stations closed their doors at 10pm.
Parliamentary seats affected included Islington North, Hackney South, Camberwell and Vauxhall. There were also problems in Lewisham, which has three constituencies. Voters were also blocked from casting ballots in the capital's council elections.
In Hackney about 350 people were unable to cast their vote, despite some turning up before 8.30pm. Sixty people staged a sit-down protest at a polling station in Triangle Road. Police were called to angry scenes but there were no arrests or injuries. The group dispersed at about 11.30pm.
Police were called to similar scenes in Conewood Street in Islington, where there were no arrests, and to a polling station in Manwood Road, Lewisham, where about 300 people had yet to vote by 10pm. The seats known to have been affected in the capital have all returned MPs with sizeable majorities.
The Electoral Commission said that a single voter can initiate a challenge to a general election result but an electoral court would be likely to take the closeness of the results into account.
There was also chaos in Sheffield — including Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg's seat — Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle. One Liverpool constituency ran out of ballot papers. Youth worker Finn Greig, 26, said Hackney council's organisation had been disastrous. He said: “I arrived at 8.45pm and there was a big queue. At about 9.30pm it stopped moving, and staff there came out and said we wouldn't be able to vote.”
Nasser Abadian, 54, an immigration adviser from Iran, could not cast his first vote since living in Britain for 24 years. He said: “What I experienced was worse than an Iranian election and so badly organised.” Andrew Boff, the Conservative mayoral candidate in Hackney, said: “There were not enough staff. It shows Hackney does not seem to take elections seriously.”
Hackney returning officer Tim Shields said “large numbers” of voters turned up in the final hours. He said: “We are bound by the law and could not allow voting to continue beyond 10pm.” Barrister Emma Dickson, the Green parliamentary candidate for Islington North, where about 40 voters were refused, said: “One or more residents may want to challenge this.” Jenny Watson, chairwoman of the Electoral Commission watchdog, today denied that it was to blame. “That is a fundamental misunderstanding,” she told Sky News.
She said the matter was “extremely serious” and the commission had been warning that the system was at “breaking point”. She added: “I'm desperately sorry that people, particularly first-time voters, trying to cast their vote didn't get a chance. We will run an inquiry.”
Reader views (28)
We now have one party and no competition,nicely played,now what are you going to do ??
- Davey_bouy, Chertsey, 09/05/2010 17:03
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It is disgraceful that people could not vote. Having the election on a Thursday which is a working day is madness. Why not Sunday. Don't tell me you work on Sunday - I know, but not so many people.
I took my elderly mother (90) to vote with my brother. Extremely difficult for us as we had to use a wheel chair. Luckily after trying 3 times over a period of 4 hours we were able to vote.
There were not enough facilities in the voting area. only 2 booths. and a great many people trying to vote. Ridiculous. More staff were needed.
- Janet Terry, Southend on Sea, 08/05/2010 22:55
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Well what can I say? Perhaps because Bliar and Brown have allowed immigration into the UK to be like opening the flood gates the UK voting system has degenerated into an East Bloc system. Never in my life have I read such a shambles that has been allowed to operate in the UKI whereby legitimate voters have been turned away from voting because of the inadequacies of the polling stations etc etc.
- peter, Vienna, Austria, 08/05/2010 22:17
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In Australia our polls close at 6pm, no one misses out; but then we are up to 10 hours ahead of the UK, lol. It was a pity though that folks missed out on their voting right. What you could do is make polling places at McDonalds and Pizza Hut, etc. and have the napkins as the voting paper and customers can fill it in whilst eating; then wipe their hands on it. A bit of sauce on the paper will not hurt.
- Richard Merrell, Wentworth Falls, NSW Australia, 08/05/2010 06:44
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I note that most, if not all, problems arose in Labour controlled boroughs...to avoid this in the future, may i suggest, particullary in Hackney, you`d be better putting the polling stations in the DHSS Offices, pub or in the local drug dealers houses.....just a suggestion
- Terry Davis, london east, 07/05/2010 16:50
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Real, firstly, you seem to have a problem with your caps lock button.
I voted by post (as I always do now). I work (hard)and knew that it would be difficult to attend in person - I just used my common sense. As I said, if everyone who voted was paid £100 to vote, I can assure you they would have made sure they either turned up early, or voted using their right to postal vote. You just happen to be one of those people I mentioned who likes to blame others when the Real[sic] blame lies closer to home.
- Carl, London, 07/05/2010 16:48
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Carl, the people turned away arrived at their polling stations any time after 8pm, were then forced to queue and turned away at 10pm. This is an outrage to democracy. Clearly, as described, the majority of those people had JOBS they have to travel to, therefore their polling stations are not near their work. They have to leave early to get to work on time and return home late.
Our country has just denied whole chunks of HARD WORKING and no doubt working class, most definitely upstanding and responsible active members of our electorate the right to vote! That is absolutely horrific. The wards where this occurred need to be named and shamed and immediate negotiations for those who didn't get to vote MUST be facilitated to do so. This is not Ukraine or Zimbabwe!
- Real, We Need * URGENT REFORM * and REAL democracy, 07/05/2010 16:25
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In this world of 'equality' we all now live in I cannot believe that there is mention here of a 'Head'of the Household. In our household my name is first on the Electoral Register Form because I tend to fill it in but I don't consider myself head of the household anymore than my boyfriend considers that he is. We jointly make decisions where necessary and individually make them where it is not. I am not responsible for his actions any more than he is for mine - an absolutely ludicrous suggestion!!
I found it interesting that many of the queuing problems were caused by voters not having their polling cards with them. What on earth is the point of them being printed if you are not obliged to bring them to the polling station in order to register your vote? There is always going to be chaos if you can turn up on the day say 'My name Joe Smith & I live at 10 Downing Street' and then the polling staff have got to search for your name on an extremely long list of eligible voters & cross check to make sure it is correc! Make it compulsory to take your polling card, scrap postal votes except in extremely excpetional circumstances, open more polling stations. We didn't have these problems 30-40 years ago when turnout was a lot higher than it has been this time (78% turned out in 1974)
- Jo B, Hornchurch, Essex, 07/05/2010 16:00
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Rules are that the doors are locked at 10pm. Why can't people understand that if they are not in (queues or no queues) that is the end of the matter? You had the option to get to the polling booth 15 hours earlier or arranged postal voting (it's really not very difficult to do this!) I am sure that if the government were handing out £100 to every person who voted in time, every one of you who missed the dealine would have made the time to get there before the doors closed. It's no good crying about it now...it's not as if you didn't know about it in time. It's always somebody else's fault with some people.
- Carl, London, 07/05/2010 15:43
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Firstly I've never heard such rubbish in my life as stating the 'head of a household' should return votes!?! The voter must attend a the polling station IN PERSON in order to be able to vote, unless they have by prior arrangment a postal vote.
Secondly, those people who were legally, legitimately, and within all their rights allowed to vote but turned away MUST be able to vote and have their opinion included. This is an outrage to any democracy. Something MUST be done to facilitate their votes to be counted.
- Real, London, 07/05/2010 14:11
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I read somewhere that voting is on a Thursday because many many years ago in England it was Market Day in most towns,which meant there were always groups of people together in the centre of the towns which made it easier to get people to vote in one place!!
- Freedy, London, 07/05/2010 13:28
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I think we should have a look and learn from the African system of voting.
- Mr S.Port, London, 07/05/2010 12:46
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THEY CANT RUN THE ECONOMY HOW WOULD YOU EXPECT THEM TO RUN AN ELECTION ?
- ALAN., ENGLAND., 07/05/2010 12:21
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I voted first thing in the morning at the Hackney South polling station and was amazed to see that there were only four voting booths in the room, despite plenty of space for more.
They should have had at least ten, arguably more. Four is ridiculous and I can see why there were such long delays if only four people can vote at once.
- DC, London UK, 07/05/2010 11:52
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Anyone who was denied a vote should challenge the result of their council election. All eyes are on the general election, but it's mostly in the local elections where a handful of votes denied could have resulted in the wrong people being elected. Also, it's local government that is responsible for this particular foul-up in the first place!
- Nigel, London, 07/05/2010 11:32
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Why didn't they lock the doors at 10pm but allow people present and queuing to cast their votes - as common sense might have suggested?
- Marianne, SW France/London, 07/05/2010 11:19
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Why didn't they lock the doors at 10pm but allow people present and queuing to cast their votes - as common sense might have suggested?
- Marianne, SW France/London, 07/05/2010 11:18
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You have 15 hours in which to go to your polling station, why leave it till a few minutes before closing? Closing time is closing time, otherwise, how far do you want to take the logic of saying "I should still be allowed to vote after closing"? How about if I show up at 8am the FOLLOWING DAY? Should I still be allowed to vote then? If you know you'll have trouble making it to the polls, get a postal vote.
Having said that, as in so many other aspects of public life, the UK would do well to fall in line with most of the rest of civilised Europe in holding its elections on Sundays when the majority of working people have more time to vote.
- Alex B, Fulham, 07/05/2010 10:39
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Kelly,interesting that you think I believe the heads of all households are men.Did you actually read my first post?
I stated that I knew of a few households where the Man of the house was responsible for returning postal votes.In the cases of which I speak,the man of the house is the head.
In other households Women may well be the head,as I have not seen those households personally,I have not said that I have.
- Bill Pitt, Victoria, 07/05/2010 09:27
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All could be avoided if people go up earlier! I travel over 100 miles each morning and yet was still able to cast my vote by 7.05am and be in work by 8.45am.
- S-M Hearmon, London, UK, 07/05/2010 09:25
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I hear one jobsworth quoted as blaming the voters.
That should tell us all we need to know about the clapped out and discredited system of governance.
Cameron was right when he said it was "time for change". What he failed to recognise was that what we need is a new vehicle before we decide upon a suitable driver!
- Jayceeyoukay, Surrey, UK, 07/05/2010 09:23
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Welcome to third world Britain
- dave, london, 07/05/2010 07:24'
How utterly puerile. Never been to the third world then?
- James, London, 07/05/2010 09:15
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Interesting, Bill Pitt, that you assume the head of the household is the man of the household.
- Kelly, London, 07/05/2010 09:14
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This happens a lot in African countries but democratic UK! It's a slap in the face for democracy. The UK sends people to monitor ballots, elections in other parts of the world to make sure they are run properly and preaches to African countries how they should run an election, yet they can't get it right on their own doorstep.
- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 07/05/2010 08:54
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This could all be avoided by making the head of a household responsible for returning all votes for that address by post.
I know of quite a few households that have allowed the man of the House to oversee all the postal votes are sent off correctly.
- Bill Pitt, Victoria, 07/05/2010 08:46
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Anyone for weekend voting?
As a full-time worker, there are only around 4 hours to vote as like many others, I don't work in the area where I vote.
Elsewhere in the world Sat & Sun are used, thereby ensuring higher turnout and everyone gets a vote (who wants one).
- Rich, Voterland, 07/05/2010 08:32
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It is unbelievable that we cannot run an election even at the most basic level. And at nearly 8am large numbers of London constituencies have not declared a result. Why not? Getting ballot boxes from the vast moorlands of Hendon or Kilburn?A sick joke.
- MikeS, London, 07/05/2010 07:48
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Welcome to third world Britain
- dave, london, 07/05/2010 07:24
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