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We went to vote when Frances got back from work, and it was easily one of the busiest polling locations I’ve ever been to, and perhaps the least enjoyable actual voting experiences. I suppose it’s partly because we were going at peak time – everybody coming back from work – but also because it’s a large ward, and I don’t think there are too many polling stations.

Some of the candidates, or at least their supporters, are deserving of some specific criticism: Whilst I normally feel quite comfortable, excited even, to be voting, this time I felt mobbed. Whilst the big “main” candidates weren’t very pushy – discretely hanging out by the front door – supporters I think were from some other parties descended on us. It almost felt more like Bangkok than Pollokshields. I’d prefer to have seen a bit of distance kept allowing people to proceed without having to refuse leaflets.

Rather surprisingly too was the police officer stationed just inside the main door (I should stress he was not inside the polling station itself!). A reassuring presence to be sure, but also the first time I recall seeing a policeman anywhere nearby. It was certainly very busy – There were different desks for different roads. They were using all of the space in what is essentially the local town hall.

The new voting system seemed ok and straight forward when you got down to voting. But I’m certainly no fan of the new ballot boxes which are designed to discourage folding of the paper (which is to be counted automatically). You’re sliding the ballot into the box as if you’re putting a single sheet of paper in to a printer, and the existing ballots seem to clog things up. Certainly not very good, and I’m struggling to see why the boxes are as small as they are.

Anyway, specific negatives aside, it all got done and I suppose it went well enough. If the number of people we passed on the way there and back is anything to go by – the weather certainly helped – I’m at least half hopeful there will be a decent turnout.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 9:21 pm and is filed under Glasgow, Personal, Politics, Scotland, Scottish elections, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.