# Voting - very British problems :)



## Northerner (Dec 12, 2019)

Many ticks!  Don't be put off!


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## eggyg (Dec 12, 2019)

That made me laugh. I always take my card and clutch it in my sweaty hands all the way to the polling station, which in my case is a portacabin 100 meters away and I can honestly say I’ve never seen anyone else in it, apart from Mr Eggy! No dogs, no queues, nobody asking how I voted for on my way out, no TV cameras. It’s all very anti climatic to tell the truth! But I’ll still go and use my hard won vote and vote from my heart as I have done every General Election since 1979.


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## Northerner (Dec 12, 2019)

eggyg said:


> That made me laugh. I always take my card and clutch it in my sweaty hands all the way to the polling station, which in my case is a portacabin 100 meters away and I can honestly say I’ve never seen anyone else in it, apart from Mr Eggy! No dogs, no queues, nobody asking how I voted for on my way out, no TV cameras. It’s all very anti climatic to tell the truth! But I’ll still go and use my hard won vote and vote from my heart as I have done every General Election since 1979.


1979 was my first election too  I was living in Sheffield at the time in a VERY safe Labour seat, so I voted Worker's Revolutionary Party   I will make my usual joke about 'thankfully missing the rush' when I go along this morning  Safe Tory seat here, so my vote will be effectively wasted, not even able to vote tactically as second and third parties are virtually neck and neck


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## Robin (Dec 12, 2019)

Our polling station is split into two. As you go in, there’s board with a list of streets, and an arrow pointing one way for streets beginning with A-L  and the opposite way for M-Z. There always a few people (usually including me) scratching their head trying to work out where they live, alphabetically speaking. And someone (not usually me) always goes to the wrong one.


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## Kaylz (Dec 12, 2019)

I don't know what our polling station is going to be like or how its going to be set out 

I have voted before but the polling station used to be the assembly/gym/dinner hall in my old primary school but this time its being held at the old cricket club 

Poor Bruce has to go all the way up the town to the outskirts to vote when he gets home due to where his flat his 
xx


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## C&E Guy (Dec 12, 2019)

I was at the Polling Station (local Primary  School) at 4 minutes to 7, and there was already a queue. I'd set my alarm for 5 minutes early as I leave for work at 7:01 usually.

There was a queue because the ballot box wasn't there! It had been delivered to the wrong place. Anyone from streets A-L had to wait.

The retired janitor came in and I said, "This would never have happened in your day!!"

I eventually got out at 7:18 and all the traffic was much heavier. I got to work with a minute to spare instead of being 15 mins early!

What a palaver!


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## Sally71 (Dec 12, 2019)

We do postal voting, mainly because my hubby is out of the country a lot with his job (and is actually on his way to Bangkok today so would have found it difficult to vote in this one otherwise!). So don't have the joy of visiting the polling station, which used to be a local primary school but is now a Portakabin just round the corner.


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## trophywench (Dec 12, 2019)

Whatever the first election after April 1968 was, would have been my first vote.

Always prior to the recent Euros, I've known who - or rather the party - I intend to send a kiss.  Always seems base over apex to me - you want this person, you support what they stand for - yet mark the voting paper WRONG.

Or does X only mean that if it's in red biro?


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## Flower (Dec 12, 2019)

Oh yes! I do the triple check for the right box and still convince myself I put my X for the wrong party and that my chosen candidate will lose by 1 vote. Always carry my 'you do not need to bring this card to vote' card just in case - it's like I have to take my passport to Scotland just in case.


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## Sharron1 (Dec 12, 2019)

I live in one of those marginal constituencies where tactical voting is the way forward. 
Did my postal vote, a bit of a origami trying to work out which envelope went where. Now just sit back and wait for the fun to start.


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## gail1 (Dec 12, 2019)

I voted right up the last min I didn't know who to vote for I had my polling card in my hot mitts just to prove I was entiled to vote


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## PaulG (Dec 12, 2019)

It's widely accepted that if the Conservatives put a bowler hat on a monkey it would still get in around here.


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## Ditto (Dec 12, 2019)

I do a postal vote. Trying to get it all  back into the correct envelopes makes my brain hurt.


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## Contused (Dec 12, 2019)

Ditto said:


> I do a postal vote. Trying to get it all  back into the correct envelopes makes my brain hurt.


I concur


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## Ljc (Dec 12, 2019)

We do postal voting too..
Dad fills his in then after a few minutes of trying  he hands it all to me including the envelope it all came in for me to sort out what goes where, so I get a double whammy. .

We’ve had the same MP for donkeys years, superglue has nothing on him lol.


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## Robin (Dec 12, 2019)

At least election nights are a bit quieter round here these days, our constituency used to be David Cameron's.
For some reason, the BBC likes to film the current PM travelling to hear the result read out in his/her constituency.
This used to involve a helicopter hovering loudly over our house at 4am to catch his motorcade as it went through the crossroads just by where we live.


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## SueEK (Dec 12, 2019)

My first vote was also in 1979, more definition between the parties then I think personally. I got in the wrong line and had to clamber over a line of chairs down the middle, fortunately nobody else but hubby in there, apart from the volunteers. I did consider voting for the Monster Raving Looney Party for a couple of seconds (didn’t know they were still going) but then decided the one I was voting for probably came under the same category anyway.


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## rebrascora (Dec 12, 2019)

I can certainly tick a lot of those boxes as well as having put a cross on my form today.
No1. I once went without my card and despite them knowing who I was and only living in a small village we could not find my name/address on the electoral register. I was starting to wonder if I had registered for a postal vote but not received it, but headed back home to try to find my card and whilst searching the house high and low, I eventually received a phone call to say they had found me. My house is in a rural location on the outskirts of the village and without a street name, it had been listed in the wrong place. I always take my card with me now!

Nos 2 and 3 definitely apply although I did pause in the porch to take off my wellies and overtrousers and (dirty) coat.... my stable duty attire before marching rather quietly in stocking feet to declare my attendance. 

No 4 doesn't apply as I don't have a TV so didn't see the debates.... no loss I think.

No5 was more an irrational fear of having made some sort of mistake because I didn't actually read the instructions (does anybody?) and there is no going back once release your hold and let it drop through the slot into the box.

No6. Sadly no dogs which would have made the task more enjoyable and interesting.

No7... they could at least put curtains on the booths to make them more dramatic.... I actually felt quite exposed (didn't want anyone to be able to see my indecision as I really wasn't sure of my vote until I put pencil to card) in the new booths (all 2 of them) that we now have. The older booths had 3 sides but the new ones just have 2, so like standing in a corner in the middle of a large almost empty room.

Nos 8 and 9 I was out in the weather anyway in my winter outdoor work gear so can't really claim any heroics

No10....This is so true....will we ever be done with it! Despair!


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## Drummer (Dec 12, 2019)

Our place to vote used to be a level walk taking maybe ten minutes at a easy stroll and dropping into the butcher's on the way back. 
A while ago they decided to move it to the bottom of a steep slope which would be a ten minute stagger down and half an hour to climb back up - so we asked for postal votes. I had no trouble with assembling the envelopes to return the thing, a secret vote inside the first envelope, and that into a second one with identification - seems logical to me.


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## Vicsetter (Dec 12, 2019)

feeling somewhat worried that I have to give my address to collect my prescription from the chemist. small village where I'm known to both the pharmacy staff and the polling station ladies ( one of whom is our librarian)


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## grovesy (Dec 12, 2019)

SueEK said:


> My first vote was also in 1979, more definition between the parties then I think personally. I got in the wrong line and had to clamber over a line of chairs down the middle, fortunately nobody else but hubby in there, apart from the volunteers. I did consider voting for the Monster Raving Looney Party for a couple of seconds (didn’t know they were still going) but then decided the one I was voting for probably came under the same category anyway.


I was torn this time about voting at all for the first time in about 40 years. I noticed we had a candidate from the Monster Raving Looney Party, did toy with voting for them. Though decided on who I would normal vote for. Glad I voted in the end as an ex colleague of mine who is Slovkian posted on Facebook how she was not allowed to vote, despite  working for NHS for 12 years and had her children here.


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## eggyg (Dec 12, 2019)

I hobbled down to the portakabin just before lunch, there was four of us in but there’s only two cubicles so had to wait. Was a bit worried when one of them asked if they put a tick or a cross! TBF I always think a tick would be more relevant. We only had four candidates and three of them were women. I voted for the party I’ve voted for for 40 years! No hesitation. I took my card as I always do, even though one of the volunteers lives down the road and we went to school together. As we left another couple came in, heaving!


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## Robin (Dec 12, 2019)

Well, I was thoroughly shocked when I went to vote! I’ve lived in the same village for 35 years, and it’s always been streets A-L on the left, and streets M-Z on the right. Not so this year! Somebody had decided to shake things up a little, and A-L were on the right! Cue much consternation and confusion amongst long term residents on autopilot!


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 12, 2019)

We have postal votes and did ours a while ago, so no polling stations in the pouring rain.  Not that our vote counts for anything here 
We are not only in a safe seat, our MP is officially the worst MP in the country (according to change.org who rated MPs according to the amount they engage with the members of their constituencies, participate in parliament, and listen to the public) - he is 650th on a list of 650.

I have also always wondered why we put a cross instead of a tick for the candidate we vote for - it doesn't really make sense, does it?


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