Londonist: London Votes!

Barry Binty

Fri, 02 May 2008 22:04:21 +0000

Bizarre: My quip against Ken seems to have been removed. All I said was lovely as he is, he chose to stand as the Labour candidate. He cant, thereafter, claim to be 'independent'. Its great to give the Labour careerist elite a good kicking today because they have totally and utterly failed to represent the interests of ordinary Londoners - people who dont want to pay 8x the average salary for a roof over their head - who dont want an illegal war in Iraq - who dont want private companies making a killing from investment in LU. People who expect more from a Labour govt - not a govt that grovels to the City - Bush and the Murdoch press.

Floatykatja

Thu, 01 May 2008 16:47:56 +0000

This was the first year that there were no tellers outside my local polling station. I found this rather disappointing, as I'd been screwing up my courage all morning to tell them to sod off and leave me alone.

eas_e

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:49:54 +0000

Today, was my first time voting in London. It was easy once I got comfortable with knowing I had to vote for 2 people for mayor - it almost felt "hanging chad" like, but whatever. I too encountered the guys at the front door, but I had no idea who they were and I couldn't really tell what kind of ribbons they were wearing. They only asked me for the polling number, which was ok with me. So, GO KEN!!!! Please, people, we can't have a posh boob on this side of the Atlantic too.

DeanN

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:01:15 +0000

Hmm, well, okay, I guess it is all above board... this guy still gave me the heebie-jeebies. I think it was the size of his giant blue Tory rosette that disturbed me.

SallyB2

Thu, 01 May 2008 12:02:20 +0000

The practice is called telling. This is the way the parties determine if their stalwart voters have turned out or not - if they haven't it is not unusual in the shires for the party to drive round and knock people up to vote. It is of course up to you if you give them your polling card number, but the practice is pretty harmless.

Lindsey

Thu, 01 May 2008 11:59:44 +0000

They can ask but you don't have to tell them. Aren't they're just trying to keep track of local turnout?

esotericbadger

Thu, 01 May 2008 11:50:58 +0000

Are they allowed to ask people's poll numbers? Sounds very dodgy indeed. Outside my polling station was a Left List-er. He seemed to be studiously avoiding giving his leaflets to anyone on their way to work, though...

DeanN

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:53:15 +0000

I was most perturbed this morning, upon arriving at my local polling station, to find a peculiar man standing outside wearing a big Tory Blue ribbon. He asked me my poll card number and wrote it down on a piece of paper. No idea if he was an official or just some random weirdo. When queried about why he was allowed to pitch for Boris literally outside the doors of the station, he demurred and claimed that other candidates'' supporters were late. Ominous. I feel the clammy hands of Jeb Bush all over this. Voter disfranchisement? You heard it here first.