2021 Local elections

[magneze]

I'd be keen to talk to them tbh

Yeah, but I've voted already and not feeling great today anyway.

 

[MickiQ]

Can candidates hang around outside polling stations wearing their conservative rosettes

like bad fucking smells

Yes they can what really annoys me (and it isn't just the Tories that do it) is when they ask for my name and address so they can check who's voted. I always just barge past and ignore them.

The Luton polling station I am working at only has the PCC vote on.

So far (7 hours) we have had just over 30 voters in.

Only 8 hours to go

My mate who is Son Q's godfather used to work for the Council and he was always roped in on election day to help, they usually sent him to some 1 horse village in the back of nowhere where there was about 15 people living there. This was in the days before mobile phones as well so he always took a thick book with him.

 

[killer b]

Yes they can what really annoys me (and it isn't just the Tories that do it) is when they ask for my name and address so they can check who's voted. I always just barge past and ignore them.

why does it annoy you?

 

[strung out]

Just had the current Lib Dem councillor who defected from the Tories knocking on my door asking if I'd voted. He didn't ask who I'd voted for, but wandered off down my path saying he hoped I'd voted the right way otherwise I 'might get a new person in!'. Normally the Lib Dems don't get close in this ward, so I'll be interested to see if he retains any of his personal vote.

 

[Smangus]

Something strangely satisfying about putting an "X" next to the word "Binface" on a ballot paper....

 

[MickiQ]

why does it annoy you?

To be absolutely honest, it's probably more an emotional response than a thought out logical one, elections are supposed to be secret but that's probably trying to justify something that just gets my goat because it does.

 

[Hollis]

Must admit not voting for Count Binface today is already shaping up to be one of my big political regrets.

 

[brogdale]

why does it annoy you?

Speaking personally, whenever that's happened on the occasions that I've voted, I resented the fact that I was expected to engage with supporters of the parties and that they share the info in chumsy manner anyway.

Always blanked the droids.

 

[Leafster]

Can candidates hang around outside polling stations wearing their conservative rosettes

like bad fucking smells

Yes they can what really annoys me (and it isn't just the Tories that do it) is when they ask for my name and address so they can check who's voted. I always just barge past and ignore them.

I didn't have that problem today.

I think it might have been because he's a neighbour and he said hello to me by name as I walked in

 

[killer b]

Speaking personally, whenever that's happened on the occasions that I've voted, I resented the fact that I was expected to engage with supporters of the parties and that they share the info in chumsy manner anyway.

Always blanked the droids.

If you haven't told them you'll vote for them when they canvassed you, your details won't actually mean anything to them anyway. You aren't expected to engage with them, it's just to avoid them knocking on the door of their supporters who've already voted later on in the evening.

 

[Badgers]

Big Dinners

 

[bellaozzydog]

Big Dinners

View attachment 267008

nothing a kick in the bollocks wouldn’t sort

 

[killer b]

(just to declare an interest, I've sat on polling station doors taking numbers on and off since I was about 8, it's a dull and thankless task and the aggressive and huffy guys make it that little bit more thankless and dull.)

 

[JTG]

Big Dinners

View attachment 267008

He's not actually that big, Sunak's only 4 foot 3 remember

 

[JTG]

Today in "things that definitely happened"

 

[brogdale]

If you haven't told them you'll vote for them when they canvassed you, your details won't actually mean anything to them anyway. You aren't expected to engage with them, it's just to avoid them knocking on the door of their supporters who've already voted later on in the evening.

Yeah, I get that; why would I want to help them in their doorstepping?

 

[killer b]

Yeah, I get that; why would I want to help them in their doorstepping?

how would you be helping them?

 

[maomao]

If you haven't told them you'll vote for them when they canvassed you, your details won't actually mean anything to them anyway. You aren't expected to engage with them, it's just to avoid them knocking on the door of their supporters who've already voted later on in the evening.

So if I do say I'm going to vote for them I get to tell them to fuck off twice?

 

[brogdale]

how would you be helping them?

In that they want to know my details (none of their business, of course) so that they can potentially remove me from their WARP sheets or whatever they might call them and save activists time in the pm/evening of polling day.

Why the fuck should I be bothered about that?

 

[Guineveretoo]

In that they want to know my details (none of their business, of course) so that they can potentially remove me from their WARP sheets or whatever they might call them and save activists time in the pm/evening of polling day.

Why the fuck should I be bothered about that?

The activists only knock on the doors of the people who have indicated that they will vote for them.

They also use the numbers to give an indication of how well they are doing - they cross off the known Labour voters as they vote, and can get a good idea from that as to how well their candidate is doing compared to how many people have voted. They get that total from the polling station - it is issued hourly.

If you have not indicated that you will vote for their candidate, your number/name is not really much use to them at all.

 

[brogdale]

The activists only knock on the doors of the people who have indicated that they will vote for them.

They also use the numbers to give an indication of how well they are doing - they cross off the known Labour voters as they vote, and can get a good idea from that as to how well their candidate is doing compared to how many people have voted. They get that total from the polling station - it is issued hourly.

If you have not indicated that you will vote for their candidate, your number/name is not really much use to them at all.

Then it makes sense to blank their intrusive questioning, then?
I can't stand how entitled some of the old fuckers stationed there are when they ask for your details; fuck 'em.

 

[killer b]

In that they want to know my details (none of their business, of course) so that they can potentially remove me from their WARP sheets or whatever they might call them and save activists time in the pm/evening of polling day.

Why the fuck should I be bothered about that?

You won't be on their sheets unless you told a canvasser you'd vote for them though. If you've not done that, it doesn't make the slightest difference to their activists evening if you tell them your polling number or not.

I'm not arguing that you should 'be bothered' with it fwiw, just that it's a bit silly to actively resent it. It's an election. This is what happens at elections.

 

[brogdale]

You won't be on their sheets unless you told a canvasser you'd vote for them though. If you've not done that, it doesn't make the slightest difference to their activists evening if you tell them your polling number or not.

I'm not arguing that you should 'be bothered' with it fwiw, just that it's a bit silly to actively resent it. It's an election. This is what happens at elections.

I think it's very healthy to resent the unsolicited intrusion, tbh.

 

[brogdale]

Why should I be expected to behave in a friendly, co-operative manner with tories or their allies?

 

[Ax^]

did not know you got two choices on the mayor vote

lord bin face ftw

 

[brogdale]

I know for fact, from local experience, that parties will sometimes inconvenience voters with this charade on exit from the polling station even when they've no meaningful ground-game; they do it for show...not to lose face/have a presence etc.

 

[chilango]

My daughter came in with me to vote and diligently watched what I was doing. So, not only no "spunking cock" but also had to justify to her why I wasn't placing a 2nd preference vote in the PCC election.

 

[killer b]

Really. The least popular job of polling day activism, and they do it for show? I'd imagine most local parties would kill to have so many activists they could waste them on crap like that.

 

[chilango]

There was a fair few voting to be fair. I guess our ward is quite hard fought in the locals, but a late surge of Green posters going up in the terraces suggests (to me at least) a comfortable hold for them.

 

[brogdale]

Really. The least popular job of polling day activism, and they do it for show? I'd imagine most local parties would kill to have so many activists they could waste them on crap like that.

IME (albeit some time ago) it would be the older/less mobile/less energised member activists that would be parked on the plastic seats.