Scotish and Welsh elections

geni

Anti-homeopathy illuminati member
geni
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Oct 14, 2003
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Big question appears to be how well the SNP will do. Not sure about Plaid Cymru in wales.
 
geni said:
Big question appears to be how well the SNP will do. Not sure about Plaid Cymru in wales.
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Quick explanation for our foreign cousins: the Scottish National Party (SNP) have been leading the polls for about 3-4 weeks now, leading to a real possibility that the Labour Party will loose in Scotland for the first time since WWII. Whether this translates into hard votes, or whether the independence issue will turn some tactical voters away, remains to be seen.

First results not yet in....
 
First Minister Jack McConnell wins his seat - no surprise there, but an interesting 6% swing to the SNP in the labour heartland. Will it be repeated nationally, which would give Labour big problems?
 
wouldn't quite give the SNP what they were hopeing for.
 
"scottish enterprise party" hmm
 
Scotish spoiled ballots numbers are getting silly.
 
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geni said:
Scotish spoiled ballots numbers are getting silly.
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More than 100,000 spoiled papers? I dunno, it wasn't that complicated. Although I am of course assuming that I filled mine in correctly :D
 
Well, my withered ego tells me that if someone with more than one degree had trouble with it, your average Ned (assuming any of them vote) is going to have had a neural meltdown.
 
That assumes that Neds will vote, of course.

Frankly I was suprised and not a little insulted at how poor the UK wide newes coverage was yesterday (well, prior to 11.05pm). If the SNP get in it will be extremely interesting from a constitutional perspective, yet the election was ranked waaaaaay down the list of news items. And I bet they don't even see why that would upset the rest of us...
 
From reading the "Have your say" bit on the BBC website it appears that a number of people who wanted to vote for only one councillor put an X instead of a 1. You might have thought that the software would be able to cope with that, but apparently not.
 
geni said:
Scotish spoiled ballots numbers are getting silly.
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i've heard it suggested that if you weren't intelligent enough to fill in your ballot, you were probably not intelligent enough to vote....

a kind of political darwinism in action :D
 
andyandy said:
i've heard it suggested that if you weren't intelligent enough to fill in your ballot, you were probably not intelligent enough to vote....
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Hey spoiling your ballot is a legitimate choice.
 
geni said:
Hey spoiling your ballot is a legitimate choice.
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In some instances yes it is, in others it’s an inability to fill in the ballot that does it.
Either way election agents tend to fight very hard to try and “prove” that spoiled ballots are actually a vote for their candidate, even when a nasty message is scrawled across the paper if it goes into one box more than another…
 
andyandy said:
i've heard it suggested that if you weren't intelligent enough to fill in your ballot, you were probably not intelligent enough to vote....

a kind of political darwinism in action :D
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but have you seen the new system for the Scottish elections?

Setting aside my pathetic pressure-induced panic at the unfamiliar surroundings and being under the beady eye of three local nosey-parkers who are administrating, in what amounts to a cereal packet as a booth...

You have two candidates for the Scottish parliament election, and one for the local election to choose from, both from a massive list of minor parties and independents (rather more than in the English local elections), each with a specific official title that is not the one generally used for canvassing/advertising purposes.

What complicates this is that you then have to mark one form with the usual cross, and the other with ascending priorities (1-5). I suspect it was this change that confused most of those who unintentionally spoiled their papers, as well as some perhaps trying to amend their choice.

Finally, you have to go against every instinct to fold your paper, as I've done in every other election I've ever voted in, as has everyone else who's ever voted. Ever ever. I'd be interested to know how many of the spoiled votes are because of folded slips.

I managed it, but I could see there being lots who might get a bit flustered and arse it up - hence no surprise over the 100,000 spoilt slips. Of course, some might also have had words to the effect of "you're all useless, naff off" scrawled on them. Goodness knows I was tempted.
 
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Big Les said:
Fair enough, but have you seen the new system for the Scottish elections?

Setting aside my pathetic pressure-induced panic at the unfamiliar surroundings and being under the beady eye of three local nosey-parkers who are administrating, in what amounts to a cereal packet as a booth...

You have two candidates for the Scottish parliament election, and one for the local election to choose from, both from a massive list of minor parties and independents (rather more than in the English local elections), each with a specific official title that is not the one generally used for canvassing/advertising purposes.

What complicates this is that you then have to mark one form with the usual cross, and the other with ascending priorities (1-5). I suspect it was this change that confused most of those who unintentionally spoiled their papers, as well as some perhaps trying to amend their choice.

Finally, you have to go against every instinct to fold your paper, as I've done in every other election I've ever voted in, as has everyone else who's ever voted. Ever ever. I'd be interested to know how many of the spoiled votes are because of folded slips.

I managed it, but I could see there being lots who might get a bit flustered and arse it up - hence no surprise over the 100,000 spoilt slips. Of course, some might also have had words to the effect of "you're all useless, naff off" scrawled on them. Goodness knows I was tempted.
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Anecdotal reports also suggest that some information officers at the polling stations were giving inaccurate information (telling people to rank candidates with numbers on all papers, and if they only wished to vote for one candidate to put a cross).

Add in an apparent absence of any voter education effort and it is hardly surprising there were problems.

Still, who could possibly have thought that having three different voting systems operating on the same day would lead to confusion?
 
Just when it seemed like Labour were going to hang on as the biggest party by holding Eastwood, Linlithgow and Aberdeen Central, the SNP win some seats that need much bigger swings (Argyll & Bute from the Lib Dems and Edinburgh East from Labour).

Back in the balance and will depend on the additional members. Two seats left to announce (Edinburgh West & Edinburgh North/Leith) both should be held by the incumbents (Lib Dems in West, Labour in North/Leith - my constituency) although a swing like Edinburgh East (which is next door) would result in an SNP victory in North/Leith.

Interesting times.
 
Two questions about the UK system and Scottish independence.

1) Scotland still in the EU, right?

2) Assuming the political will exists, what has to happen legally for Scottish independence to take place? Is a regular act of parliament enough?
 
Abdul Alhazred said:
1) Scotland still in the EU, right?
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yes and no, Scotland is in the EU in the same way that Texsas is in the NAFTA.
Scotland is only in the EU as it is part of the UK, and the UK is in the EU. Technicaly speaking if Scotland became independant then they coudl chose not to join the EU, but that's unlikley.


2) Assuming the political will exists, what has to happen legally for Scottish independence to take place? Is a regular act of parliament enough?
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An act of parliment is "all" it would take, however the politics involved in getting a bill passed are interesting, to say the least.
 
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