Yesterday was a lovely day to vote. In fact a bit too lovely, perhaps; a friend standing in the elections worried that the first really nice hot day of the year meant everyone would go to the pub rather than vote. I of course still went; just like Jamie K says, the stealthy nature of elections is a charm in itself - schools, church halls and leisure centres all over the country quietly become something else for one day, thanks to the “visit from the democracy pixies”. For me it was especially weird, revisiting my former primary school and having to deal with quite how ordinary and small everything was compared to when I was eight.

One gripe though - Newham council (like a lot of others I suspect) now employ computer-assisted counting: ballot papers are scanned and counted electronically. Fine, speedy and accurate counts are a desirable thing. The downside is that you are not allowed to fold your ballot paper; additionally, the ballot box no longer has a slot on top, but some sort of ridiculous loading tray not unlike your average laser printer’s; you put your ballot in face down and push it in. The result is a usability nightmare: unfolded, the ballot paper flops about a lot and it is quite difficult to put it in without showing your vote to everyone. For me this was OK as I was the only person in the polling station when I voted - no snooping eyes, and I could take my time; for my father, who voted later in the day and with people all over the place, it proved more difficult. The “helpful” official at the polling station decide to give him some entirely unsolicited help - first taking the ballot paper out of his hand as he moved to put it in the box, and then turning it face up as she inserted it into the ballot box. It was only for a second and was probably inadvertent, but it still rankles me somewhat.

Incidentally, Newham still has not declared a result (council website gives an ETA of 12 noon). So much for speedy computery goodness making the whole process more efficient. Maybe they should just go back to the manual counts.

Update (1700): The BBC say 175 councils have declared out of 176. Guess which one has been left out?

And finally, on a totally unrelated note, the BBC report “Seat won by pencil test after tie”. Sadly they’re not referring to this sort of pencil test, more’s the pity…

This entry was posted on Friday, May 5th, 2006 at 10:56:13 and is filed under General.