And another thing…

It is not an entertainment, its an election, and it is time they were held on sundays, counted on mondays (all of them) effected on tuesdays.

Then ALL constituencies would be nearly in concert in the practical matter of declaration, unless there was a recount, which would slow some down.

We need government which governs, rather than mimics the frantic efforts of paratroops embarking from helicopters.

I don’t care when the votes are counted – it’s the result wot matters.

It took weeks to count the votes in 1946 but I bet Labour’s victory was no less sweet to its supporters for that.

The tradition you seek to preserve is, like so many British traditions, younger than many people might suppose…

QZ said: “It is not an entertainment, its an election, and it is time they were held on sundays, counted on mondays (all of them) effected on tuesdays.”

While we watch the financial markets perform acrobatics on account of the potential uncertainty. And that is not just about share prices, its about gilts, credit ratings & currencies. Or do you suggest we just close the markets for a day or three?

If there is to be any change of this ilk, election on Saturday, count it on Sunday seems blindingly obvious.

Otherwise, leave well alone I think. And Tom is right, a little theatre and an “event” is no bad things.

Politics can’t all be about counting “tractor stats” !

Elections in most parts of the world seem to go pretty well on a sunday and their stock markets are not renowned for greater instability than ours.

Turnout would be expected to be higher on a sunday, and that is perhaps the deciding factor.

Exit polls on a sunday (when the stock market is closed I believe) would usually be sufficiently accurate that it would be clear who had won, most especially with AV in operation when clearer cut majorities seem more likely.

Even back in 1964 they managed to count 430 seats on the night, nearly 70% of the total.

If they could manage it back then, we should be able to do just as well today.

http://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2006/11/18/will-we-miss-the-traditional-election-night-programmes/

QZ – The london Stockmarket is not just any old market & in any case, its about gilts, credit ratings & currencies – things that are especially “precarious” at this particular time.

Exit polls ?? Conducted by whom?

(better think about that one some more QZ)

…and in the meantime lets just leave well alone eh?

Tom What is the date of the night you are talking about ?.

Piffle, an election on a sunday will affect the markets less, not more, than any on a thursday.

How counter good sense are tax obsessives trying to be?

Johnny – Do you mean the night I kept my mum company as she watched the results coming in? That was the May 1979 election.

Quietzapple does have a point (although I don’t necessarily agree) – it is quite feasible to run elections on a Sunday and have the winner projected with reasonable accuracy on exit polls. It works well in Germany…

As I have previously intimated, I do not always (rarely in fact) share the opinions of the member for Inverclyde, nor do I hold him in much esteem. But I must (reluctantly) congratulate him in securing that debate, and congratulate both him and yourself for your speeches to it;

I hope that some amendment IS made to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill on this; both on accountability of the unelected CEO’s (that are paid far too much as it is) and on the need to get the election count held as quickly as possible. It is vital to the functioning of our democracy that the votes are counted as quickly as possible after the polls close.

The very notion that ballot boxes could be sitting around, unguarded and uncounted for upwards of 12 hours after a count is repugnant to me, and I’m sure to many others.
I’d go so far as to say that if it were my decision (and sadly, it is not. Yet), locally at least, if my local authority decides to go ahead with counting on the Friday, I would see to it that all ballot boxes have an SNP seal affixed to them at the close of voting, and I would suggest that the other parties would do well to do likewise.
It is not just about the physical security of the ballot box, but about the intellectual security that people *know* it has not been tampered with, and that if these unelected bureaucrats cannot be held to account and made to hold the count on the night, then at the very least the political parties must do everything within their powers to demonstrate to the electorate that the boxes are unmolested.

Health & Safety??

And QT – why should weekend polling increase turnout? Polling stations are open for some 15 hours with postal voting for those who can’t make it.

Jay: Fewer people work on a sunday and so have more time and are less tired, ergo more likely to vote.

Also even in this day and age families are more likely to be in touch one with another so as to remind and discuss an election on a sunday.

The roads are less crowded than on weekdays, so that, on the whole, getting to a polling station should be less irksome.

It isn’t a new idea, and it remains a better one than thursday.

“Thursdays child has far to go,
…..
“And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.”

Sunday is a more positive day than thursday, just recall Chesterton’s “The Man who was thursday” for further evidence of these associations in our culture.

QT – how much energy and time does it take to put a cross in a box? Also aren’t polling stations located in the constituency therefore people don’t have far to travel and can vote on their way to or coming back from work.

Bet those who can’t find time on a Thursday won’t find it on a wet Sunday when they’ve got to get the car out of the garage ‘just’ to go and vote!

I doubt it rains more often on a sunday, and most people who work days, in my experience, vote after they have returned home.

“Election Day usually refers to the day when general elections are held in a country.

“In many countries, general elections are always held on a Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate, while in other countries elections are always held on a weekday, as many feel that Sundays are religious holidays that should be devoted to God.

“However, some countries, or regions within a country, always make a weekday election day a public holiday, thus satisfying both demands.

“By contrast, in Australia where voting is compulsory and New Zealand, elections are traditionally held on a Saturday. In Canada, federal election day must be selected to be a Monday (unless a holiday, in which case the polling day will be the following Tuesday).” Wiki.

B ignorant colonials – eh?

You can watch the 1979 election again here. Go to the playlists section:

http://www.youtube.com/ajs41

AndyJS: Mildly surprised Call me Dave hasn’t got his people (or Cashcroft’s) to have that taken down by now . . .

Trust you’ll be posting your link more widely.

Congrats on apparently persuading Jack Straw to back your call for all election (presumably only H o C GE counts) to begin within 4 hrs of close of voting ie 2AM.

Be a bit of a joke in some north Scotland constituencies, but quite suit Glasgow, and the tellers who want the mazoomah I guess. They’ll be counting for a day or so, and the law re people leaving and entering the Count will presumably have to be changed.

Continuing lower turnouts, partly because of the thursday polls, will continue to blight our electoral system, until AV gives them a blip.

Conservatism where it is productive, not where it is simply an entertainment, please.

BUT you and Straw will face less aggro from your abusers for a bit I guess . . .

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