Voting irony

[Penguin68]

Yesterday was Voting Registration Day - a good day to receive from Southwark notification that one elector in my household had had her postal vote removed (not at her request) and had been set back to 'Polling Station' - since she will not be in London on the day of the General Election (or for weeks around that - hence the need for a postal vote) that means that her vote has actually been taken away from her, on Voting Registration Day. Of course, I cannot get this corrected - she only can do this ('Data Protection') - apparently pointing out that there is an error (and a simple check of the paper trail showing no request to change voting method status isn't sufficient) - and not being about in London this will prove complex and difficult, although it may be possible (not confirmed) that it can be done by e-mail (oh yes, the system, and I use that word advisedly, to allow changes on the internet doesn't allow for that change to be made).

So, another victory for the apparatchiks over the concept of democracy. You now have to go to extra lengths to get corrected a mistake made by them which will effectively disenfranchise you. Oh, and the final absurdity - she had just completed and sent in a form to record her signature so that her postal vote could be validated! You couldn't make it up!

[ianc]

It's a pain, and they screwed up my postal vote but wrote to me shortly afterwards stating there had been a mistake (this was late last year).

I'd suggest you get all forms sent to the registered address, then scoot them off to her wherever she is, and get her to return to you. Then post back normally. It's a pain, but it's do-able. Had to do this several times with legal docs, and it's often the only way to get all signatures on one piece of paper.

But yes, don't get me started on the palava involved in getting registered!

[JohnL]

The thing is - when there's so much else to do - are most people going to make that much effort to vote.

You could get more bang for your buck by persuading others to vote for your preferred party :)

[Penguin68]

I'd suggest you get all forms sent to the registered address

That was precisely my thought, but when I asked I was refused - because I was not the person in question on whose behalf the error had been made - it is she and she alone who can request the form, which I was told (initially) she must do by phoning in working hours and then (if my experience is anything to go by) hanging on for 15 minutes listening to anodyne Southwark Council recorded messages before speaking to a live person. In the end I had to talk to 3 separate executives (in the laughingly entitled customer service department) before one admitted that she might be able to e-mail them to ask for the papers to be sent to the registered address, but that only she could do this. Of course the 'data protection' shield is complete cr*p - since all I was asking for was the forms for her to fill in - but that's what the apparat gets up to when they can. Voter Registration Day? Voter Horsesh*t more like.

[Earl Aelfheah]

It's so frickin archane. Why can't we have a secure login / online voting system? The idea of going to a polling station and then making a cross on a bit of paper with a pencil just seems so in efficient. Manning all those polling stations, gathering the bits of paper - counting them etc. etc. Surely in this day and age there are better ways to do this. It's no wonder so many young people don't bother. Never mind the politicians themselves, just the process seems out of touch with modern life.