Hundreds denied vote in UK election

It seems I am not the only British citizen unable to vote in this historic general election.

There are probably other disorganised and tardy ex-pats who didn't manage to get their registration organised in time. And, as I alluded to in a previous post, there were also those who forgot to register because no one bothered to knock on their door and hand-deliver them a form, as has usually happened in the past^*. More shockingly it seems that hundreds of people who actually were registered were turned away from polling stations at 10pm BST when voting closed.

Some of those people had been queuing for 3 hours!

Imagine that. You get home from work. You make the tea, feed and bath the kids, get them to bed, tidy up and do the dishes, pack the kids' school bags for the next day, maybe have a quick shower, sit down in front of the telly with a cup of tea and then think, "oh I'll just pop up the road to the school and cast my vote." You get there and there's a queue. "Never mind. It's pretty important. I mean, we don't want a hung parliament, do we?" You wait 45 minutes. Someone comes out and says "sorry love, voting's closed."

WTF??

It seems that those with ballot papers were still allowed in to vote but still... I find this absolutely shockingly outrageous. I have NEVER had to queue to vote. I've always just popped up the road after tea or on my way home from work and cast my vote. I think I've usually had a ballot paper, mind.

For a country that whinges at every election about low voter turn-out, that still hasn't managed to figure out a way to allow voting, or even registering to vote, online, this is ridiculous. Especially considering the expected hung parliament.

For the full story see Election 2010: Voters turned away as polls close

^* Strangely, the website with the original story (www.general-election-2010.co.uk) seems to have since disappeared.

Voting in the UK in the too hard basket

I've given up. I really wanted to vote in this election but besides leaving everything until the last minute I've decided it's just too hard. Actually, it's probably because I've left everything until the last minute that it's too hard.

Basically, I'd like my Dad to vote as my proxy. He's got to go and vote himself anyway so it makes sense. Happy for my Mam to do it too. I mean instead. Obviously they can't both do it, given that we only get one vote each. Anyway, you get the picture.

The other option is a postal vote but today is the closing date for registrations for that, then they have to send out the ballot paper which I then have to fill in and get back to them before voting closes on election day. So, I think it's probably a bit late for that. Although I might still try my luck at faxing it through.

The problem with the proxy vote is that I have to register to vote with the electoral registration office that I was last registered with. This is in London. My parents are in the north-east. And frankly, when I move back to England this is probably where I'll be based. So I'd rather vote here than London, thanks. (I don't even remember which address in London as I moved about 9 months before I left the UK and I don't remember voting after that. But that's not to say I didn't.) There doesn't seem to be anywhere that I can register a change of address. So, if you don't register at your new address before you leave the country you're permanently forced to vote in your old constituency. It kind of makes sense. But not really.

So, it's all been thrown into the too hard basket. Which is a shame as it looks like an interesting election.

I'll do my research anyway and try my luck with a postal vote. So far, based upon looks alone, I think Nick Clegg looks the most prime ministerial, with David Cameron a close second.

So, maybe what I'll do is use this blog as a means to try to influence fellow Brits to vote the way I think I would vote. To summarise, here are the scores at the end of the first round:

Based upon the party leader's prime ministerial looks:

Conservatives 2
Labour 1
Liberal Democrats 3

I need more time Gordon!

Here's the thing. I live in Australia. I am an Australian. I'm also British and I want to live in Britain again some day. So I have a vested interest in the government of both countries. In Australia, I am forced to vote, with the threat of a fine should I abstain, although truth be told, I know people who have missed many elections and I have yet to see any of them be prosecuted.

Britain, on the other hand, is a different story. I keep missing general elections. Last time I tried to register to vote by post only to realise I hadn't given myself enough time. I vowed that it wouldn't happen again. This time, I figured I'd register to vote by proxy and get my Dad to do it. I have no idea who I would vote for but I am a bit excited by the fact that the Lib Dems are in the running as they have usually got my vote in the past. Except for 1997 when I jumped on the New Labour bandwagon and voted Blair in and then stayed up all night to watch the results come in. Students. Pah!

So, when did Gordon Brown announce the general election? April 6th. When did I find out about it? This weekend. Almost 12 days hence. I think I kind of gathered that there was something of that ilk going on but to be honest they've talked about the possibility of an election for months. Make that years. And then there's all the other crap that's been going on, such as getting over a cold only to be knocked down by a stomach bug. And I'm super busy with everything going on in my life and haven't been keeping a very close eye on the news. So it was only this weekend that I actually looked up when the election was. May 6th. Ooohh... close.

Today I went online to register to vote by proxy. I would have done it sooner only the website didn't work on the iPhone so I had to wait until I had a moment on the computer. Do you know when you have to have your registrations in by? 20th April! That's tomorrow!! That's only 2 weeks after Mr Brown made the announcement. With the international postal service the way it is you have to be darn quick to make that deadline. And there is no other way to register. So, I can't vote.

I suppose I should just fill the forms in anyway in advance of the next election. I'm assuming that I will only have to go through this rigmarole once and not every election. But I can't actually be bothered to read the forms and find out. There's no incentive now that I know I can't vote. Oh well.... live and learn.

Update: Seems I'm not the only one having trouble registering to vote. And this likely lot are living in the UK too so they have even less of an excuse for not getting their act together. As an added bonus, my first name is mentioned in this article. It's always nice seeing one's name in print. Even if it isn't technically my name, it's the name belonging to the borough of East Lindsey. There you go, there it is again. Lovely. It doesn't happen very often for me. Usually it's misspelt. Lindsay or something. Unless you're looking at a website about Fleetwood Mac. Then you might get my first name and a little bit of my surname, Lindsey Buck, thanks to Lindsey Buckingham. Oooh... I almost feel another google me coming on.