Democracy in (Fr)actions…

Going back to the last 6 weeks when the general election was announced, we have seen non stop political parties’ campaigning, bus tours to do canvassing and televised debates, it has all been leading up to this day, voting at the polls.

Through fortunate circumstances, by partaking in different campaign groups, I have got to know other parents who are actually politicians, and ultimately, last night, was lucky enough to be invited as a guest and get to experience the full process of how votes are counted in one of the exit polling stations. These are my reflections on watching that process, and being present at a count.

Upon entering the leisure centre where the votes were being prepared to be counted, I was given a specific coloured lanyard to wear around my neck. This would allow a person to be identifiable dependant on their role in the count, from candidate, candidate’s guest, political party agent, electoral official or tellers (who do the official counting of the voters ballots).The ballot boxes on the site are brought in from the polling station on the day to the exit polling station , where the final votes are being counted and results overseen by election officials.

As I watched the votes being counted, this scene was being repeated across the country. At the same time, news stations were covering the results of exactly 160 exit polling stations, where winners appeared in a digital map in the colours of each political party, which as a nation in whole, the first past the post of majority vote count will show the winning party of the election.

This is also where the incumbent MP’s (Members of Parliament), are invited to find out, by latest, early hours of the morning, who has won the seat for that particular 'areas constituency. From seeing how the ballots get emptied and counted into bundles, then separated by party vote and counted into further bundles, the process is as fascinating as it is confusing.

At the constituency whose vote I was attending, the count was head to head until the very last moment. The constituency had a lot to be proud of, including how there was over a 70% voter turnout for their polling station count area, meaning the inhabitants understood their votes mattered. This was much higher than turnout nationally, with historically low levels of people turning out to vote.

So how did it all end? In the seat I was watching, the incumbent, Jeremy Hunt, kept his seat, if only just. His majority narrowed considerably though, and obviously his days as Chancellor are now over, with Labour elected with a big majority.

These results were understandably not taken lightly and before I could look around to see what the different news agencies and radio where recording in their morning live reporting, I was whisked away quickly as there was a morning train to catch before the morning commute of rush hour began.

Despite the new change of ruling national party, there still remains a lot of campaign promises to be met for the diverse needs of the British people which need to be put into action. I hope the new Government really will make a difference.