voting

emamum · 05-04-2008, 19:13

Just got the poll card through the door and wanted to tell you something that happened to me last year....

I had the usuall people calling round trying to convince me to vote for them and i had said that i wouldnt be voting(at the time i had college and work and tyler) so one guy says, fill in this form for a postal vote so you dont have to go down, i thought this was ok so said yeah....
I got the form, only it wasnt a postal vote application, it was a proxy vote application meaning that they would go and put my vote in for me!!

Luckily i read everything first and didnt send it off.

Just thought i would warn ppl!

shillelagh · 05-04-2008, 19:19

Emamum what you should have done was report them to the returning officer at hyndburn about it. They may have made a mistake giving you a proxy form but you should still have reported it. The returning officer is normally the chief executive of the council. If you want a postal vote all you have to do is contact the returning officer at hyndburn and they will send a postal vote form out to you. Fill it in and return it by the date they say and then they will send you out a postal vote when the time comes which you return to the address on the form by voting day.

emamum · 05-04-2008, 19:20

the guy fetched it with him and wanted me to fill it in there and then, obviously trying to rush me into not reading it... i said i was too busy at the time and he kept coming back

panther · 05-04-2008, 19:23

got my polling card last week!

and if anyone comes knocking on my door asking for my vote, i just laugh at them and shut the door!!...

shillelagh · 05-04-2008, 19:46

Im glad im not knocking on your door then panther!!!!

Emamum if anyone tries to do the same again this year then what you need to do is ask them for their name, make a note of which party they are from and report them to the returning officer.

There are certain rules that people canvassing have to follow and if they dont follow them then they can get the party involved in trouble.

Basically he should have left form with you for you to fill it in at your leisure and for you to return it to the returning officer yourself. I have offered before to fill it in for someone and they signed it and i took it in for them but only with their say so.

g jones · 05-04-2008, 20:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by emamum23

Just got the poll card through the door and wanted to tell you something that happened to me last year....

I had the usuall people calling round trying to convince me to vote for them and i had said that i wouldnt be voting(at the time i had college and work and tyler) so one guy says, fill in this form for a postal vote so you dont have to go down, i thought this was ok so said yeah....
I got the form, only it wasnt a postal vote application, it was a proxy vote application meaning that they would go and put my vote in for me!!

Luckily i read everything first and didnt send it off.

Just thought i would warn ppl!

Very concerned about this. If it's Labour/Hyndburn. I want to know about this right away. PLease PM privately. What ward was it?

Normally there are between 3 -12 proxy votes per ward. Never higher. Last year one climbed alarmingly to 20 and after checking it semed ok,

However in 2006 against Gayle, Peter Britcliffe had 44 proxy votes.

jaysay · 07-04-2008, 09:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by g jones

Very concerned about this. If it's Labour/Hyndburn. I want to know about this right away. PLease PM privately. What ward was it?

Normally there are between 3 -12 proxy votes per ward. Never higher. Last year one climbed alarmingly to 20 and after checking it semed ok,

However in 2006 against Gayle, Peter Britcliffe had 44 proxy votes.

I thought you'd have to bring Britliffe into, scraping the barrel again Jones

mickmc · 07-04-2008, 15:20

I thought we were supposed to save cash, go green, cut down on carbon etc

So how come my voting card is twice the size it was - its now A5 - where before its always been a handy A6 size

twice the cost of paper........who decided that???? then I know not to give em my vote

shillelagh · 07-04-2008, 15:21

Mines postcard sized. Mind you im in Rossendale.

jaysay · 07-04-2008, 16:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickmc

I thought we were supposed to save cash, go green, cut down on carbon etc

So how come my voting card is twice the size it was - its now A5 - where before its always been a handy A6 size

twice the cost of paper........who decided that???? then I know not to give em my vote

The Returning Officer

panther · 07-04-2008, 17:11

I cant understand why they cant just print all the names on one piece of paper!!

just put a perforation line down to tear off each individual name

Less · 07-04-2008, 17:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by emamum23

and i had said that i wouldnt be voting

This is the sad part to me, it doesn't take long to go and cast a vote no matter which party you vote for, (or to make you ballot void if you don't agree to with any party), but the number of young people especially, that say, It's not worth it they are all the same etc, etc.

Please, get off your backsides and vote or nothing will change and if nothing changes we'll have nothing to argue about on accyweb!

Seriously though voting has only been allowed for the whole of the adult population for less than 100 years, a lot of people worked hard and long and made sacrifices so that we could all vote.

So, please make the effort this year and get yourself down to the Polling Station.

When did women get the vote in England?

shillelagh · 07-04-2008, 17:50

My dad said to me when i was 17 he said that if you dont go and vote then you have no right to complain about the council/government. Even if you didnt vote for the one's who got in you still have the right then to complain. It doesnt take 2 mins to put your x in the box. Might take you longer to get to the polling station but what is 2mins out of your life.

Ive never missed voting yet - i promised him i would always vote unless i was took to hospital as an emergency. Most of the time mine is the first in the box anyway!!!

If you are going away there is always postal votes (you listening slinks and ginger) or if you want there are proxy votes where someone can go and vote for you.

lindsay ormerod · 07-04-2008, 17:52

Gotta agree, I've always used my vote, I think it's hypocritical not too, like Less says, you can't whinge about things if you haven't done your bit to change it.

emamum · 07-04-2008, 17:58

ok..... how annoyed would you all be if i said i'd never voted?