Scottish Election Chaos

[Skintagain 1983]

The use of 2 types of ballot for 3 different elections on one day in Scottish polls has caused chaos amongst voters up here.

There have been tens of thousands of spoilt ballot papers, including in key seats and councils where the numbers of spoilt papers exceeded the winning candidates majorities!!

I must admit I had to do a double-take to make sure I'd filled mine correctly!

As things stand those results declared will stand but there is to be an investigation.

So is democracy working?

Who can tell!

 

[Seagull Stew]

I Blame McGhee!

 

[Frutos]

I Blame McGhee!

Me too.

 

[League1Champions]

You sure they weren't just wasted on buckfast and went into the polling station saying "Jeez min ehm a confused"

 

[withdeanwombat]

It's those wee dimpled chads,I expect.

 

[Dave the OAP]

There was a bloke on 5 live this morning.

He was given a ballot paper that the instructions said....

" Place a 1,2,3,4, against the candidates to express your preference"

He placed a X against the one he wanted and was going off on one when they electoral helpdesk told him that his vote would not be counted.

" but I didn't want to vote for any others, so why cant they count my X?" he whinged.

Because that is not how it works, you muppet......


Sometimes I despair

 

[Skintagain 1983]

There was a bloke on 5 live this morning.

He was given a ballot paper that the instructions said....

" Place a 1,2,3,4, against the candidates to express your preference"

He placed a X against the one he wanted and was going off on one when they electoral helpdesk told him that his vote would not be counted.

" but I didn't want to vote for any others, so why cant they count my X?" he whinged.

Because that is not how it works, you muppet......


Sometimes I despair

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Can't have been THAT confusing. The Tories still managed to get NUL POINT

 

[Skintagain 1983]

One failed Labour boy in Cunninghame lost by less than 50 votes and is seeking a legal challenge.

:safeway2:

 

[fatbadger]

Nice to see the tories do so badly. And then Cameron comes out and claims they are now the party for the whole country. Yeah well, posh-boy, you ain't seen as credible up here are you? Your shitty party managed to finish the election one seat down . You couldn't even win back Eastwood when there were massive swings against Labour everywhere else in Scotland! 1st in 4 seats, 2nd in 9, 3rd in 32 and a truly woeful 4th in 28 seats (and 5th in another!). Pathetic. A Scottish leader, and still the party can't make headway in Scotland. BNP did shit, too - it's so much grander up here!

 

[The British National Party]

Can't have been THAT confusing. The Tories still managed to get NUL POINT

At least Labour have been booted from Brighton and hove

 

[Yorkie]

There was a bloke on 5 live this morning.

He was given a ballot paper that the instructions said....

" Place a 1,2,3,4, against the candidates to express your preference"

He placed a X against the one he wanted and was going off on one when they electoral helpdesk told him that his vote would not be counted.

" but I didn't want to vote for any others, so why cant they count my X?" he whinged.

Because that is not how it works, you muppet......


Sometimes I despair

I witnessed the council count on Friday and as long as a clear mark is against a candidate, then it can be counted.
What happens is that all papers that have a mark against them that isn't an X or have voted for more than allowed are put to one side.
Then the candidates view the remaining slips with the returning officer and agree which ones can be included. There were a couple with ticks (included) some with 1,2,3 (included) and a couple with decorative Xs (included) the ones rejected were those with more than 3 Xs and ones were a giant X was put right across the paper. I even saw one with a vote for Ned crossed out and three Xs elsewhere (the slip was for 3 Lib Dem votes but Ned was next to two of them!! alphabetically) It was clear that there were 3 clear votes on the paper so we agreed it.

 

[BensGrandad]

Scotland want to rule them selves I think that all Scottish MPs should be refused entry to our parliament and stick to their own.

Scotland want to rule themselves but we have got to have a Scot as Prime Minister something is wrong there.

 

[Dandyman]

Scotland want to rule them selves I think that all Scottish MPs should be refused entry to our parliament and stick to their own.

Scotland want to rule themselves but we have got to have a Scot as Prime Minister something is wrong there.

 

[NMH]

"throw the sweaty down the well, so my country can be free"

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

If people are to stupid to be able to work out a voting paper they shouldn't be allowed to vote.

 

[Lady Bracknell]

I witnessed the council count on Friday and as long as a clear mark is against a candidate, then it can be counted.
What happens is that all papers that have a mark against them that isn't an X or have voted for more than allowed are put to one side.
Then the candidates view the remaining slips with the returning officer and agree which ones can be included. There were a couple with ticks (included) some with 1,2,3 (included) and a couple with decorative Xs (included) the ones rejected were those with more than 3 Xs and ones were a giant X was put right across the paper. I even saw one with a vote for Ned crossed out and three Xs elsewhere (the slip was for 3 Lib Dem votes but Ned was next to two of them!! alphabetically) It was clear that there were 3 clear votes on the paper so we agreed it.

Ah, but the local elections in England (including the Lewes District Council ballot) were conducted under a quite different "first past the post" voting system. Unlike the Scottish local elections which used a Single Transferable Vote system. Confusingly, the Scottish Parliamentary elections were conducted on the "first past the post" system! Under the STV system, voters must vote in preferential order rather than just bunging a cross in the box.

In the English local elections it didn't (and doesn't) actually matter whether people put crosses, ticks or even comments against the candidate(s) they intended to vote for provided that their INTENTION was clear. A spoilt paper only arises in the absence of clear intention not because a voter has failed to mark their ballot paper with a cross.