Many people are asking why it is that the count for the Norwich North by-election is not being held on the evening of the election, and others are asking why it is that the count is not even being held in Norwich North or in the District of Broadland or the City of Norwich.
In 2004 I was agent for elections in Broadland and they sent me the wrong agents forms. At the time I was a councillor on North Norfolk Council so I got the correct forms from their electoral packs and crossed out "North Norfolk", inserting "Broadland" in their place. Only when I returned the forms did they suddenly realise their error and send out replacement forms to all candidates.
In 2005 at the General Election there were complaints in Norwich North, and most notably in Thorpe Marriott (Taverham) that the polling stations were not properly organised and prepared so angry voters who had queued for some time were turned away at 10pm not having voted.
In 2007 at the local election count they took the best part of a whole day to count the local election votes despite a low turnout. People at the count that I knew described it as a shambles.
Now in 2009 the same council are holding the count for a parliamentary by-election the following day, not even on the same night as the election. Then to compound things the count is not even being held in Norwich North or the District of Broadland. Instead it is being held in South Norfolk !
But don't worry. These people only act as the guardians of our democracy.
2 comments:
Presumably, this is so that they know what the number of postal votes needs to be...
I am absolutely livid. As a devoted Anorak I demand that my right to sit up to 2am watching a by-election be upheld.
I am unlikely to even get coverage of the count as it will clash with important TV at 9am.
Completely Raging
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