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[Spookie]

Second general election in a row in which one of the officials at my polling station was wearing a Conservative rosette. Alright, it was plain blue and didn't say "Conservative" on it but it's hardly likely they're pulling for the Greens, is it? Say if that made me genuinely uncomfortable - which it did - who would I report such a thing to?

Were they outside? Or inside? I think anything past the gates is ok but would be frowned upon.

 

[phisheep]

Second general election in a row in which one of the officials at my polling station was wearing a Conservative rosette. Alright, it was plain blue and didn't say "Conservative" on it but it's hardly likely they're pulling for the Greens, is it? Say if that made me genuinely uncomfortable - which it did - who would I report such a thing to?

Are you sure it was an official and not a party teller?

 

[AHA-Lambda]

But they don't.

But they could, nothing prevents it, first person to turn up with a matching name address on list gets the ballot paper.

Heck I've had 3 people so far ask "do I need to show ID?" It's impressively loose on security.

 

[CelticKnight]

Nope, all you need is to remember your name and address

Shit, that hard?

Ah, well... I'll vote anyway. It's for the greater good. And I'll resist the temptation to draw a huge cock and balls on the back of the ballot paper.

 

[Par Score]

Ashcroft National:
CON 33 (+1)
LAB 33 (+3)
LIB 10 (-1)
UKIP 11 (-1)
GRN 6 (-1)
Dates 5th-6th
N=3,028

Pretty nervy times for the pollsters, they've all basically converged around the 34% for both parties. At least in 2010 you had a real spread of polling so one of them was bound to be right. As it is you've essentially got the pack on 34% with a couple at 35% and a couple at 33%. If they're wrong they're all wrong.

Safety in numbers!

This late swing to Labour from the phone pollsters must have the Tories shitting it, one of their last grasps was "The phone polls are right, online is wrong", but now they all show the same thing.

Second general election in a row in which one of the officials at my polling station was wearing a Conservative rosette. Alright, it was plain blue and didn't say "Conservative" on it but it's hardly likely they're pulling for the Greens, is it? Say if that made me genuinely uncomfortable - which it did - who would I report such a thing to?

Parties are allowed to have representatives at polling stations and counts, indeed it is encouraged to make sure everyone is happy, and everything is considered free and fair.

I'm not totally up on the rules about exactly where they can be, nor what kind of campaigning they can do (vis-a-vis that blank blue rosette), but as long as they weren't barging into polling booths shouting "Vote Tory you bloody oiks!" it's probably nothing you can pursue.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

92% Tory
85% Lib
75% Lab

Seems like I can vote for everyone xD . I have an exam today though and travel is long...hopefully I'll make it back in time to place a vote.

As long as you're in the queue by 10pm, you can still vote. If you're still unsure between candidates at this stage and haven't quickly checked your constituency, you can search for it here: https://yougov.co.uk/#/centre and see which parties are competitive in your seat, e.g. it's probably not best to vote Liberal in a Labour/Conservative marginal. Another last minute decision helper can be using http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ to see if you agree with your local MP; often they can differ quite considerably from the party line.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Here's the other survey that will tell you which parties policies you supposedly support most. Gives you a great breakdown at the end.

https://uk.isidewith.com

This was neat. I'm in the US so I couldn't answer a handful of questions due to ignorance on the topics, but of what I was able to answer it said that I side pretty strongly with both labour and liberal democrats. Not sure if they're insanely different parties that I happened to match with due to skipping a handful of crucial questions, but it was interesting nonetheless to see how I'd vote in another country.

 

[Ark]

I was running late this morning so I'm going to vote after work, hopefully my bus isn't late today.

 

[Jimmyfenix]

this is the 5th vote i have done and once again my old school where i am voting was empty.

 

[CyclopsRock]

Tactical voters hopelessly confused
21-11-14

TACTICAL voters no longer have any idea who they are meant to be voting for or who they are trying to keep out, they have admitted.

There's no point trying to be clever about this

There’s no point trying to be clever about this

The rise of UKIP, the fall of the Lib Dems and the frantic oscillation of Labour and the Conservatives have made tactical voting more complicated than quantum physics.

Joseph Turner of Leeds said: “In 1997 I voted Labour to get the Tories out, in 2005 I voted Lib Dem to get Labour out, and four years ago I voted Tory to get the Tories out, which seemed to make sense at the time.

“Now I’m told that if I vote UKIP I’ll wake up in bed with Ed Miliband, if I vote Labour I’ll wake up in bed with Nigel Farage, and if I vote Lib Dem that Nick Clegg will move all his stuff in and put his name on the mortgage.

“Do they just mean in bed, or will I actually have to do it with them? And is there any way I can stop it?”

Political blogger Susan Traherne said: “UKIP’s growing power, the Greens overtaking the Lib Dems and the willingness of every party to go into coalition with every other means tactical voting is over.

“Voters are now advised simply to cast their vote for the party they would most like to see actually running the county.

“Which admittedly doesn’t make the choice any easier.”

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/polit...ical-voters-hopelessly-confused-2014112192994

 

[CyclopsRock]

The polls may well be right re: voteshare but how that translates into seats in the marginals is the interesting thing!

 

[CCS]

Absolutely sensational advice.

 

[mclem]

I guess I know who to blame for the impending Green-Tory coalition that I've been predicting.

Conservative + Green = Toryquoise.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

This was neat. I'm in the US so I couldn't answer a handful of questions due to ignorance on the topics, but of what I was able to answer it said that I side pretty strongly with both labour and liberal democrats. Not sure if they're insanely different parties that I happened to match with due to skipping a handful of crucial questions, but it was interesting nonetheless to see how I'd vote in another country.

Liberal Democrats are roughly equivalent to the more pro-business Democrats in the U.S., though not the socially illiberal ones. I think Obama would probably be a Liberal Democrat were he in the UK, potentially even Conservative. Labour is the further left of the Democrats, but has a wider range I don't think the US Democrats encompass, US politics is centred further to the right.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

TheyWorkForYou is mind blowing

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24927/mary_glindon/north_tyneside/divisions?policy=826

I'm pretty sure if my wife was aware of how the Labour MP has been voting, she might have changed her mind a little.

 

[Mr. Sam]

Were they outside? Or inside? I think anything past the gates is ok but would be frowned upon.

Are you sure it was an official and not a party teller?

He was inside the building and collecting people's polling cards, so I assume he was there in an official capacity and not, beyond the rosette, affiliated with a party. I didn't take my polling card so all he got from me was a look of bemusement.

 

[Mr Git]

Voted early this morning. Someone give me a sticker or a star or a cookie or something.

Second general election in a row in which one of the officials at my polling station was wearing a Conservative rosette. Alright, it was plain blue and didn't say "Conservative" on it but it's hardly likely they're pulling for the Greens, is it? Say if that made me genuinely uncomfortable - which it did - who would I report such a thing to?

Whoa what? That's really not allowed. Even voters aren't meant to wear rosettes or anything relating to the parties in case it intimidates other voters. You should complain very loudly.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

TheyWorkForYou is mind blowing

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24927/mary_glindon/north_tyneside/divisions?policy=826

I'm pretty sure if my wife was aware of how the Labour MP has been voting, she might have changed her mind a little.

If she's not voted yet and that's important to her, you should show her. I could never vote for an MP with such a poor stance.

 

[mclem]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/tactical-voting?bftw&utm_term=4ldqpgm#.vn5AGDXXN

I'm sure someone posted this beforehand, but an interesting guide to if you should tacitly vote in your constituency by Buzzfeed.

Hmmm. It's broadly correct in how it reads my constituency, but...

So, your seat is currently held by Labour – and in this election, we think it'll probably be marginal.

It has been marginal in the past - at the height of Labour's unpopularity; I'll be *very* surprised if it's close to marginal this time.

 

[kmag]

Liberal Democrats are roughly equivalent to the more pro-business Democrats in the U.S., though not the socially illiberal ones. I think Obama would probably be a Liberal Democrat were he in the UK, potentially even Conservative. Labour is the further left of the Democrats, but has a wider range I don't think the US Democrats encompass, US politics is centred further to the right.

Labour also has a statist centralisation tendency which doesn't really map to any of the political parties in the US.

 

[Tak3n]

Fun/depressing thing - an interactive map for how much your local MP claimed in the past year: http://www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk/InteractiveMap.aspx

my MP was at £18,000 is that good or bad?

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Liberal Democrats are roughly equivalent to the more pro-business Democrats in the U.S., though not the socially illiberal ones. I think Obama would probably be a Liberal Democrat were he in the UK, potentially even Conservative. Labour is the further left of the Democrats, but has a wider range I don't think the US Democrats encompass, US politics is centred further to the right.

I'm pretty far left by US standards, so Labour sounds like the party for me. Someone in UK GAF cast a vote for me

 

[WadiumArcadium]

There was a man and a woman in the doorway of my polling station wearing blue rosettes.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Getting a similar result for my constituency. It was a marginal a decade ago, and a three-way one at that, but if it's marginal at this election Labour are in for a shock wipe-out.

 

[phisheep]

He was inside the building and collecting people's polling cards, so I assume he was there in an official capacity and not, beyond the rosette, affiliated with a party. I didn't take my polling card so all he got from me was a look of bemusement.

Sounds like a party teller to me. Perfectly legal. They're not supposed to be inside the polling station - but the polling station isn't necessarily the whole building, it's usually just one room.

 

[Atrophis]

Today's plan. Work, vote, traditional election night visit to the chippy, marathon Ballot Monkeys until the election coverage starts.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

If she's not voted yet and that's important to her, you should show her. I could never vote for an MP with such a poor stance.

It's too late, we voted this morning. She's Labour through and through. I wish we had sat down and looked at TheyWorkForYou together though. Some of the votes seem so 'unlabour-like', and really unlike what I think my wife would support. She is a strong supporter of Gay Rights, so I really think she'd find this surprising.

 

[Fernando Fernandez]

I'm voting in Portsmouth North. We have Splash contestant Penny Mordaunt as MP currently.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

I'm pretty far left by US standards, so Labour sounds like the party for me. Someone in UK GAF cast a vote for me

Bear in mind that Labour does encompass a pretty wide range of social views though, to the point that some people prefer the Liberal Democrats simply because Labour is pro-surveillance state and so on. I think the States there's a very strong trend between being further left economically and being more socially liberal, at least at a political level where, for example, Bernie Saunders is very liberal politically, but that doesn't hold true in the UK.

 

[WadiumArcadium]

I'm voting in Portsmouth North. We have Splash contestant Penny Mordaunt as MP currently.

Lucky you.

 

[QuicheFontaine]

The polls may well be right re: voteshare but how that translates into seats in the marginals is the interesting thing!

Yep, the polls probably aren't going to be more than one or two percentage points off, since they all pretty much agree.

But that one or two percentage points could make a big difference. Whether it's a 3% or 5% swing from Con -> Lab could be the difference of around 20 marginal seats, looking at this table:

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Labour also has a statist centralisation tendency which doesn't really map to any of the political parties in the US.

A Google search for "statist centralisation" has failed me. Care to elaborate because the US, indeed, doesn't focus on such a thing. Or if we do, it's under a different title.

 

[Spookie]

He was inside the building and collecting people's polling cards, so I assume he was there in an official capacity and not, beyond the rosette, affiliated with a party. I didn't take my polling card so all he got from me was a look of bemusement.

I was working last year with a friend on his local campaign and was told they needed help down the polling station. When I got there I was told to remove ANYTHING identifying any party allegiance. So by the sounds of it he has dun fucked up.

 

[Juicy Bob]

Proud to say that I just voted for the first time (as a UK voter) for the Green Party.

 

[Mr. Sam]

Sounds like a party teller to me. Perfectly legal. They're not supposed to be inside the polling station - but the polling station isn't necessarily the whole building, it's usually just one room.

I think you're right (at least judging by this: http://www.electoralcommission.org....6/102858/fact-tellers-dos-and-donts-rc-ca.pdf), though he most certainly was in the room, albeit away from the... polling... desk... boxes.

 

[Mindwipe]

A Google search for "statist centralisation" has failed me. Care to elaborate because the US, indeed, doesn't focus on such a thing. Or if we do, it's under a different title.

The US equivalent would be a tendency for federal power over state power. But to an extent that would be unimaginable in the US.

 

[Porcile]

Voted for Labour. I don't think there's much between the Cam and Ed but I'm sick of the Conservatives sanctimonious and mumsy predication.

 

[hodgy100]

I'm pretty far left by US standards, so Labour sounds like the party for me. Someone in UK GAF cast a vote for me

This is a pretty good run down of the parties leanings.

 

[MrChom]

It's too late, we voted this morning. She's Labour through and through. I wish we had sat down and looked at TheyWorkForYou together though. Some of the votes seem so 'unlabour-like', and really unlike what I think my wife would support. She is a strong supporter of Gay Rights, so I really think she'd find this surprising.

This MP looks like a very blue-tinged Labour.....more Blairite than proper Labour, even.

Very odd voting record, all around, really.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Bear in mind that Labour does encompass a pretty wide range of social views though, to the point that some people prefer the Liberal Democrats simply because Labour is pro-surveillance state and so on. I think the States there's a very strong trend between being further left economically and being more socially liberal, at least at a political level where, for example, Bernie Saunders is very liberal politically, but that doesn't hold true in the UK.

Sounds like you guys have a healthy array of actual choices when voting. Must be nice :'(

And yes, in the US republicans are both socially conservative and fiscally conservative while democrats are both fiscally left and socially liberal. There's really not much deviance from those viewpoints within the two parties, although you could argue that moderate democrats trend toward fiscal conservatism in some regards while holding socially liberal views.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

I think it's more complicated than that because Labour has historically been the party of devolution, but it'd be safe to say they favour a few concentrated sources of government capability rather than a decentralized system.

 

[MrChom]

This is a pretty good run down of the parties leanings.

I'd say the economic right there has its scale WAY off. Labour are Centrist or just right of that....not as far out right as they look there.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Sounds like you guys have a healthy array of actual choices when voting. Must be nice :'(

And yes, in the US republicans are both socially conservative and fiscally conservative while democrats are both fiscally left and socially liberal. There's really not much deviance from those viewpoints within the two parties, although you could argue that moderate democrats trend toward fiscal conservatism in some regards while holding socially liberal views.

I'm not necessarily sure we do have more choice, at least not historically. If you jump back in time a decade, you could very roughly map all three of our major parties onto different wings of the Democratic party in the US; our politics would have looked like an internal Democratic party debate in terms of the type and subject of conversations with maybe a touch of the most centrist Republicans. As such, you could say we had less choice then, or even if we had a choice between three as opposed to two, your two were further apart so the range of choice available to us was certainly smaller.

What's happening at this election is very much uncharted waters for the UK, a lot of previously irrelevant parties suddenly breaking new ground given the general discontent with the system, Ed Miliband's Labour Party is the furthest to the left it has been in a long time, and there's a fierce war prevailing in our rightwing between the old Conservatives and the new UKIP. It has no real historical comparison in the post-war period.

 

[Dougald]

Done. For once a teller didn't try and half-block my way into the polling station round here, maybe they know I always kick up a fuss. I do hate how they phrase asking for your card as though they are somehow entitled to look. Always tell them to jog on.

 

[anonymous_abc]

I'd say the economic right there has its scale WAY off. Labour are Centrist or just right of that....not as far out right as they look there.

They say/think they are centrist, that doesn't mean they are on a global scale.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

This MP looks like a very blue-tinged Labour.....more Blairite than proper Labour, even.

Very odd voting record, all around, really.

It's all very confusing, but it's shown me I need to take a greater interest in what's going on rather than just voting Red, Blue, Yellow, etc.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

I'm not necessarily sure we do have more choice, at least not historically. If you jump back in time a decade, you could very roughly map all three of our major parties onto different wings of the Democratic party in the US; our politics would have looked like an internal Democratic party debate in terms of the type and subject of conversations with maybe a touch of the most centrist Republicans. As such, you could say we had less choice then, or even if we had a choice between three as opposed to two, your two were further apart so the range of choice available to us was certainly smaller.

What's happening at this election is very much uncharted waters for the UK, a lot of previously irrelevant parties suddenly breaking new ground given the general discontent with the system, Ed Miliband's Labour Party is the furthest to the left it has been in a long time, and there's a fierce war prevailing in our rightwing between the old Conservatives and the new UKIP. It has no real historical comparison in the post-war period.

That's all pretty fascinating. I'm going to read up on the specifics of this election when I wake up. Thanks for humoring my naiveté.

Edit- actually sounds pretty similar to US currently with republicans harshly split between classic conservatism and tea party loonies while the democratic party is less obviously divided between the moderate Hillary Clinton-esque politicians and more populist folks like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

 

[tomtom94]

Hadn't realised just how close Norwich North was (4.6%). I expect Chloe Smith to hang on on the grounds that she's a much better local campaigner and people vote with the incumbent, but it should be a heck of a lot closer.

 

[QuicheFontaine]

Done. For once a teller didn't try and half-block my way into the polling station round here, maybe they know I always kick up a fuss. I do hate how they phrase asking for your card as though they are somehow entitled to look. Always tell them to jog on.

I don't take it, simply because it says right on the card that you don't have to take it. Also a good excuse to breeze past any party tellers and say you don't know your polling number.

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

These are the options in my constituency: https://yournextmp.com/constituency/65615/charnwood/

Out of those Labour seems like the only sensible choice. The only reason I'm voting at all is to prevent those UKIP and BNP arseholes from getting in due to voter apathy.