Thursday 7th May

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:32 pm

Labour have edged ahead in "updated" ICM poll - Lab 35 Con 34 UKIP 11 LibDem 9 Green 4.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:39 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Labour have edged ahead in "updated" ICM poll - Lab 35 Con 34 UKIP 11 LibDem 9 Green 4.

Someone let Dave know.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:40 pm

pk1 wrote:I voted weeks ago and it's really strange watching all the excited declarations by those that have just voted.

Lots of reports of people finding themselves unable to vote because they weren't registered correctly. Hackney seems to be reporting figures into the hundreds & I cannot begin to imagine what the overall total might be by the day's end.

I've just come back from the sleepy St Dogmaels village hall after casting my vote. I was delayed because the woman in front of me had just been told they couldn't find her on the electoral register ... she was upset and protested she had always voted here. To no avail. All they could advise her to do was ring up Pembrokeshire County Council and ask them to check and see if she was 'properly' registered to vote. She left still upset.

I imagine that scene might be played out rather a lot today. The letters sent out re the new voter registration were anything but clear. I rang PCC twice to make absolutely sure we were both registered to vote. Helpful isn't the word I'd apply to the department dealing with this.

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:45 pm

I think the weather is definitely on Labour's side, with a dry, partly sunny evening forecast across the North and London, some rain in the areas in-between

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:47 pm

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:I think the weather is definitely on Labour's side, with a dry, partly sunny evening forecast across the North and London, some rain in the areas in-between

PS Sorry to nesters in Wales and the Midlands who may find this a little heartless

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:48 pm

Well if this comment BTL on G politics blog is correct ... it's very cheering.

ravengirl 8m ago

6
7
Populus final poll has labour in lead by one. But i've just noticed this tweet from Guardian's Tom Clark referring to latst icm pole
"ICM detail 2: In marginal battlegrounds where Con were 2% ahead in 2010, Lab has 11% lead today. Sub-samples, for sure, but not tiny ones"

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:51 pm

and this one directly below it I hope is complete crap ... please

MikaJJ 11m ago
Apparently SNP thugs are already intimidating voters in Glasgow. Women and the elderly in particular are being targeted on the streets as they are make their way to the polling stations. An elderly gentleman in East Glasgow with a Labour sticker in his window had his window smashed by SNP supporters, while known Labour and Lib Dem supporters are having their path to the polling station blocked, while police stand by and do nothing.

Absolutely disgraceful, the violent bullying tactics of the SNP.

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:53 pm

I would really love it if Dave were hoist by his own petard with voter registration.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:54 pm

Britain Elects ‏@britainelects 6m6 minutes ago
We've just received word that ballot papers for the Darlington constituency have omitted one or more the parliamentary candidates.

Surely they have to cancel the election there if that's so? Appalling if true. Doesn't anyone check the ballot papers are accurate well in advance of election day?

utopiandreams · Post by **utopiandreams** » Thu 07 May, 2015 12:56 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:... she was upset and protested she had always voted here. To no avail. All they could advise her to do was ring up Pembrokeshire County Council and ask them to check and see if she was 'properly' registered to vote. She left still upset.

I imagine that scene might be played out rather a lot today. The letters sent out re the new voter registration were anything but clear. I rang PCC twice to make absolutely sure we were both registered to vote. Helpful isn't the word I'd apply to the department dealing with this.

Possibly so, rebecca, but hopefully there's another explanation. In my case my voting venue is not what it has always been at this address and I'd be surprised if the original one is not being used. I may drive by later and have a look. It could be changes of demographics.

Edit: inserted at this address.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:01 pm

Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 3m 3 minutes ago
If final polls in right then hard to see how CON wins most seats. At GE10 CON led LAB by 11.4% in England where today ICM has no CON lead

pk1 · Post by **pk1** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:06 pm

So we don't forget what the final polls were & the seat predictions by the various commentators:

and

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:12 pm

utopiandreams wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:... she was upset and protested she had always voted here. To no avail. All they could advise her to do was ring up Pembrokeshire County Council and ask them to check and see if she was 'properly' registered to vote. She left still upset.

I imagine that scene might be played out rather a lot today. The letters sent out re the new voter registration were anything but clear. I rang PCC twice to make absolutely sure we were both registered to vote. Helpful isn't the word I'd apply to the department dealing with this.
Possibly so, rebecca, but hopefully there's another explanation. In my case my voting venue is not what it has always been at this address and I'd be surprised if the original one is not being used. I may drive by later and have a look. It could be changes of demographics.

Edit: inserted at this address.

This isn't a densely populated area though, ud. We come to the same polling station from miles and miles around - so very unlikely that her name is down at a different venue. She had walked to the polling station too - I saw her walking back along the High Street as I drove away.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:13 pm

Just in case you weren't already angry and fired up enough by what the coalition has already done, here's a link to an article about something they are up to that they have somehow kept quiet:

https://sturdyblog.wordpress.com/2015/0 ... -defeated/

The government is trying to sell our stake in Urenco. Urenco is a joint venture between the UK, Holland and Germany (effectively – E.On, RWE). Each partner holds a third each giving them collective control, but not individually. Urenco is a Uranium enrichment company. It turns hundreds of millions of profit every year and so, not only does it cost the UK nothing, but contributes to state coffers. It has four Uranium enrichment plants in Cheshire.

Yes, that's right, they want to privatise the UK's uranium enrichment sector. And not a peep from the press.....

rearofthestore · Post by **rearofthestore** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:23 pm

So there all wrong or its goodbye Cameron

Alastair Campbell retweeted
David Clark ‏@David_K_Clark 15m15 minutes ago

For Cameron to have a realistic chance of staying on as PM, every one of the final 11 polls would need to be wrong.

Please let it be so.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:28 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
utopiandreams wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:... she was upset and protested she had always voted here. To no avail. All they could advise her to do was ring up Pembrokeshire County Council and ask them to check and see if she was 'properly' registered to vote. She left still upset.

I imagine that scene might be played out rather a lot today. The letters sent out re the new voter registration were anything but clear. I rang PCC twice to make absolutely sure we were both registered to vote. Helpful isn't the word I'd apply to the department dealing with this.
Possibly so, rebecca, but hopefully there's another explanation. In my case my voting venue is not what it has always been at this address and I'd be surprised if the original one is not being used. I may drive by later and have a look. It could be changes of demographics.

Edit: inserted at this address.
This isn't a densely populated area though, ud. We come to the same polling station from miles and miles around - so very unlikely that her name is down at a different venue. She had walked to the polling station too - I saw her walking back along the High Street as I drove away.

This is why, despite checking I was registered online at least twice, I was still relieved when our polling cards turned up. I know you don't need your polling card when you vote, but it's your proof of registration for and entitlement to vote in, any particular election so if it doesn't arrive before polling day it's a big warning sign that you may not be properly registered. Again, I don't think there has been enough info about the changes to electoral registration just as there hasn't been with anything this slapdash coalition have done. Significantly, I think those who tend to register by form rather than online may be the most affected, especially if they've moved address recently.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:33 pm

Anyone got anything on voting being postponed in Darlington because candidate missed on ballot paper?

What kind of omnishambles election is this?

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:39 pm

Willow904 wrote:Anyone got anything on voting being postponed in Darlington because candidate missed on ballot paper?

What kind of omnishambles election is this?

Lots of confused reports on this, but what seems to have happened is that one polling station got ballot papers that were meant for the neighbouring Sedgefield constituency.

If that is actually what it is, I doubt the election will be cancelled - but it is still a huge cock up

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:41 pm

Willow904 wrote:Anyone got anything on voting being postponed in Darlington because candidate missed on ballot paper?

What kind of omnishambles election is this?

The G blog has a little report saying that Darlington have said they will issue a statement asap ....

Perhaps Dave might try to leap on this to have the whole election cancelled if it doesn't look like it's going his way, eh?

Police presence at Tower Hamlets polling stations apparently. How did you find it Tubby?

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:43 pm

Polling heads unanimously predicted a Tory overall majority in 2010, DESPITE WHAT THEIR OWN POLLS WERE SAYING!!

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:47 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:
Willow904 wrote:Anyone got anything on voting being postponed in Darlington because candidate missed on ballot paper?

What kind of omnishambles election is this?
Lots of confused reports on this, but what seems to have happened is that one polling station got ballot papers that were meant for the neighbouring Sedgefield constituency.

If that is actually what it is, I doubt the election will be cancelled - but it is still a huge cock up

That doesn't sound quite so bad. Fixable.

pk1 · Post by **pk1** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:48 pm

Statement from Darlington BC:

A spokesperson for Darlington Borough Council said that voting in the general and local elections was continuing as normal in Darlington but that the name of one candidate, David Hodgson (UKIP) had been missed off ballot papers issued to one polling station in the borough. Approximately 89 ballot papers (0.1% of the total number of ballot papers printed) had been issued, but as soon as the issue was identified, corrected ballot papers were issued to the polling station concerned.

Suppose my initial reaction of laughing out loud when I saw it was Ukip name had been missed off was inappropriate.....

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:50 pm

Caitlin Moran ‏@caitlinmoran 2h2 hours ago
Is anyone having problems voting in Hackney? A lot of friends reporting they didn’t get polling cards ...

Iain DaleVerified account
‏@IainDale
@caitlinmoran It's the postal votes they failed to send out. 3,000 of them! We covered this last night on @LBC. A scandal.

That's a very hefty number of people to be denied the right to vote - more than many majority figures. What happens in a case like this - do they have to rerun the election? Or are these people just left disenfranchised?

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:54 pm

I *think* people in that position can ask for an emergency proxy vote on the day - though I agree it is a totally unacceptable situation.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:54 pm

Owen Jones @OwenJones84 · 32m 32 minutes ago
The finally polls show a shift to Labour. They may be wrong. But imagine the scenes of panic in Tory HQ right now. And savour it.

Savouring as I write.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 1:58 pm

: Roses By Tony Benn.jpg (67.2 KiB) Viewed 8056 times

Kerry McCarthy ‏@KerryMP 3m3 minutes ago
Someone has left roses by Tony Benn on my office wall. @hilarybennmp

Brought a lump to my throat.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:03 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:Well if this comment BTL on G politics blog is correct ... it's very cheering.

ravengirl 8m ago

6
7
Populus final poll has labour in lead by one. But i've just noticed this tweet from Guardian's Tom Clark referring to latst icm pole
"ICM detail 2: In marginal battlegrounds where Con were 2% ahead in 2010, Lab has 11% lead today. Sub-samples, for sure, but not tiny ones"

Just back from doing my stint, had something to eat and a cup of strong tea. Don't know which part of me aches worse. Well the heads okay but my back and legs are screaming. I stood for the whole time. I'd have been the only one sitting, and flanked by two Conservatives and a Kipper standing above me, just wasn't on. I'll take a couple of pain killers before my next stint.
Have to say I couldn't read how the vote is going at my station. I know that a lot of Conservatives voted because our local party had provided them with white cards with crosses next to their candidates name. When asked for their number many of them handed over the little white cards, much to the two Conservative tellers embarrassment.
I met our Labour PPC. James Walsh. He is lovely young man.
They've been fighting for council elections here too, and I think knowing Lee has such a large majority have tended to concentrate on that in some of the wards...
I don't blame them, and according to James, the polling station is very busy on the big estate which houses a lot of the poorer people. That in itself is brilliant because it means people beginning to realise they need to get involved.

All the Conservatives were saying that there would be another election within weeks. They are quite convinced of that. No talk about winning. Not a word in fact.
So, reading between the lines I think they know Ed is going to get in, but are banking on it not being enough to last.

So what I want to know is: Why are they happy about the thought of another election? Ed might come out of it even stronger...Or do they know Cameron is going to hang on kicking and screaming and is going to force us to vote again?

Oh and we have some Indepedents standing. They are actually Tories who were suspended over an argument about planning and because they refused to toe the line were deselected.
Just before I got there, they were accosting people outside the polling station and reminding them they'd been their Tory councillor and were now standing as Independents and would appreciate their support. The Cons Tellers [acting councilors doing their stint] got annoyed, there was a bit of a ruckus and one of them had his rosette torn off...

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:05 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:I admit I am rather enjoying the lack of political coverage on the BBC today. Well, UK politics. Just listening to a debate on WatO about whether the Boston bomber should face the death penalty. I have long hoped that the US would join the ranks of civilised countries in my lifetime and abolish the death penalty. Based on the hysterical pro-death nonsense I've just heard, I don't hold out much hope.

Yes, when even somebody as basically enlightened as Obama supports it (albeit only for "heinous" crimes or something like that) sanity is still some way off I fear

Anyway, off to do some election stuff soon

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:06 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Roses By Tony Benn.jpg

Kerry McCarthy ‏@KerryMP 3m3 minutes ago
Someone has left roses by Tony Benn on my office wall. @hilarybennmp
Brought a lump to my throat.

I just burst out into tears.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:12 pm

Our polling experience was very boring compared to your place OhSo.
No queues, no party tellers as the polling is so slow they'd freeze or die of boredom waiting.

BBC got the weather wrong too, cold & wet so we had to drive to the village to vote.

We gave a Lib Dem voting neighbour a lift.
He came in for a coffee, and several pots of strong brewed coffee later we found we had a lot in common. He thought Ed had really come on during the campaign and that Clegg has been a disaster for the party. Am so caffeined up I'll have no problem staying awake tonight.

FuriousGeorge · Post by **FuriousGeorge** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:13 pm

Afternoon everyone! Feeling positive about the latest polls!

As a bit of light relief heres some election coverage from Taiwan!

Seriously how do you embed a youtube video? The youtube bb code thing doesnt seem to work

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:13 pm

citizenJA wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
Roses By Tony Benn.jpg

Kerry McCarthy ‏@KerryMP 3m3 minutes ago
Someone has left roses by Tony Benn on my office wall. @hilarybennmp
Brought a lump to my throat.
I just burst out into tears.

It's somehow very touching. The first general election without him.

Editing to add: Now I have cried.

Hilary Benn ‏@hilarybennmp 55s55 seconds ago
Hilary Benn retweeted Kerry McCarthy
Thank you to whoever put the lovely flowers there. We miss him.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:15 pm

Someone showed me an unexpected & welcome kindness today.
I'm grateful.
The rain came after the bright sunshine morning but it's cleared off again.
It's not cold.

AngryAsWell · Post by **AngryAsWell** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:16 pm

To nervous to say very much, just hanging on tender hooks at the moment.
My irony moment so far is seeing a woman driving off in her smoke (diesel ?) belching old landrover and staring in wonder at the "Vote Green" hand written sticker/sign thing in the back window.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:16 pm

We have had music play lists for previous elections.

Are we going for one tonight, or is it all too tense ?

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:17 pm

Hmm, decisions decisions. What time is the eventual outcome likely to be predicted? 4am,later?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:19 pm

Very heartening to see so many elderly out voting this morning. Some came by car with family or carers. Many of them were riding buggies. They could have driven into the polling station because it's disabled friendly, but every single one insisted on going in on their own two feet. I honestly thought a couple weren't going to make it... But they did. I hate being old, but was dead proud to see my generation still in there fighting.
Tonights shift 6 til whenever I can be relieved, is supposed to be the busiest. Expecting more young then. At least I hope that's what happens.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:20 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:
RobertSnozers wrote:I admit I am rather enjoying the lack of political coverage on the BBC today. Well, UK politics. Just listening to a debate on WatO about whether the Boston bomber should face the death penalty. I have long hoped that the US would join the ranks of civilised countries in my lifetime and abolish the death penalty. Based on the hysterical pro-death nonsense I've just heard, I don't hold out much hope.
Yes, when even somebody as basically enlightened as Obama supports it (albeit only for "heinous" crimes or something like that) sanity is still some way off I fear

Anyway, off to do some election stuff soon
I suppose until very recently a majority of the UK population supported it - it just happened that we had braver and more principled politicians. A good argument in favour of representative democracy

I wholeheartedly agree with your posts, RobertSnozers.

AngryAsWell · Post by **AngryAsWell** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:20 pm

Its the last day to vote for the national British bird
http://www.votenationalbird.com/

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:23 pm

We didn't get any of the famed Lib Dem bar charts this time round.
Anyone else not had them ?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:25 pm

I'm missing the thanks button today. (Refitman, you made absolutely the right call though. I'd much rather do without it for a bit than not have a functioning site for tonight / tomorrow).

Please consider yourselves thanked at frequent intervals. I'm thinking thanks today.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:26 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:@ohso - thanks for the report. You're doing a sterling job and you have my thanks. I hope you can get through the afternoon OK!

The Tories want another election because they can afford it. Labour is less cash-rich than the Tories so would struggle to mount a second campaign so soon after this one. I suspect it's as simple as that.

I can ill afford it, but by God if the Cons play up and force another election right on the heels of this one, I'll triple what I've already donated...

And I think I heard a muttered 'funds being a bit short', from one Tory councilor to another when they were discussing the campaign.

Dave probably needs lots of his rich donors money to pay for his bodyguards when he has to mingle with the great unwashed.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:26 pm

@yahyah

Davy's On the Road Again (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) will, hopefully, be appropriate.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:31 pm

PorFavor wrote:@yahyah

Davy's On the Road Again (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) will, hopefully, be appropriate.

Let's hope the last line is prescient:
'You can wait till the dawn rolls in, you won't see our Davy again'

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:31 pm

From the G politics blog - for those who don't go there: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/liv ... k-uk-votes

Green candidate urges supporters to vote Labour

Here’s a rare case of a candidate who doesn’t want any votes. Guardian James Parker, the Green candidate for the south London marginal of Eltham, has told his supporters they should give their votes to Labour, Jessica Elgot reports.

Parker, whose south London constituency is a Labour seat with a slim marginal of under 1,700 votes, told the Guardian he wanted to see Ed Miliband as prime minister.

“If you are voting Green in Eltham as a protest, do vote for Clive Efford, the Labour candidate,” Parker said. “If you really feel Green in your heart, then vote for me, but it is more important that we don’t have a Conservative government.”

Parker, who said he was genuinely still torn as to whether he would vote for himself, said he was hoping for Green victories in some of the closer seats, like Brighton Pavilion and Bristol West, but said he did not want people to vote Green where candidates, like him, could not win and where Labour was battling Tories.

Parker, a former Labour party member who left after the Iraq war, said. he wanted to see “a Labour government with Green influence.”

“The centre ground is between the Greens and Labour now,” he said. “I think as a party we could have played it better at this tactically, and stood down in areas where Labour were fighting the Conservatives, and Labour could have stood back in seats where we might win from the Lib Dems and the Tories.

“I’d like to see us work together. We on the left should not give in to competitive self-interest.”

diGriz · Post by **diGriz** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:34 pm

Back from voting. Miserable overcast day on the way there, the sun burst out as I left the station. Which was nice.

On my own in there as usual but I did ask and they say they are busier than normal.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:34 pm

Rain is coming down again pretty hard but the birds & some workers on a building project over the way are undaunted.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:35 pm

“I’d like to see us work together. We on the left should not give in to competitive self-interest.”

Yep.

pk1 · Post by **pk1** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:37 pm

FuriousGeorge wrote:Afternoon everyone! Feeling positive about the latest polls!

As a bit of light relief heres some election coverage from Taiwan!

Seriously how do you embed a youtube video? The youtube bb code thing doesnt seem to work

Only put whatever appears after the = so from your link ( just embed the vczSt2RLuCY bit

[youtube]vczSt2RLuCY[/youtube]

Eric_WLothian · Post by **Eric_WLothian** » Thu 07 May, 2015 2:38 pm

SpinningHugo wrote:Go on twitter, type in pencil and discover hundreds of kippers urging people to vote using a pen so that their vote cannot be changed.

And these people get a vote too.

That was advice given to 'yes' voters in the referendum as well. Tinfoil hat manufacturers' profits will be up again this week:

In an online campaign dubbed #OperationScallop, shared hundreds of times on Facebook and Twitter, activists have urged voters to wait until the final hour of polling on Thursday so they can track their ballot papers from polling stations to count centres, in an attempt to prevent them being tampered with.

A detailed advice sheet issued by the Twitter account for a Glasgow-based IT company Spectrum Systems urges them to photograph their voting papers, check that each ballot carries valid security markings and then watch them be correctly handled.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... l-election

Still very low-key here. A steady trickle of voters at around 8:45. No lamp-post posters whatsoever (including in Edinburgh - or at least the part of it that I went through earlier). Very few window posters (no non-SNP).
Strange - I've never seen anything like it!