Some snippets from yesterdays work

Dutifully did my job as a poll clerk yesterday in a little village in Cambridgeshire.

Thought I would share some snippets of information.

Firstly we had a turnout of almost eighty percent of those eligable to vote (not including postal) which was more than for the last election by a few voters. Good if not for the result.

Secondly we had at least twenty people, and not just because they had just reached 18 years old, who you could tell had never voted before by the way they behaved and what they said including a couple over 60.

Thirdly we had at least three people asking why we only had pencils in the polling booths, at least one suggesting the votes could be changed. Some of the secondlies above.

Fourthly and you might not know this but there is a piece of plastic to help visually impaired people to vote in the right box. They have liftable flaps and braille and raised lettering. For the referendum this was modified to just Remain and Leave and was supposed to be stuck on the voters ballot paper then taken off again for reuse if necessary with someone else. I heard at the training session they had got problems with it. On the day a piece of paper nay a letter with the device that proved to be a laugh. It included the words, the adhesive used was too aggressive, I swear I heard it growling at times. It then detailed how you should use two paperclips of a certain size to hold it on the ballot paper and described how to fix the paper clips with the long leg behind the ballot paper even had diagrams to illustrate that point.