It has now been confirmed that the online voting system does allow a spoilt ballot ‘paper’.
But with all this technology is it still possible to get it wrong?
Yes explained Mr Winchcombe [Swindon deputy returning officer]. By failing to select any candidate on screen or by voting for more than one candidate.
“But you will get a warning on screen asking if this is really what you want to do though,” he added.
It’s nice to know that the option of last resort is still available.
Apparently, Councillor Glaholm has had a little dig at one of the ministers from the national red nest. Not quite the ‘grilling’ it was headlined as, but certainly stronger stuff than either of the local MPs have been heard to say.
Ms Kelly: We have a Government initiative to build more homes and £60,000 homes for first-time buyers will be available in Swindon.
Cllr Glaholm: She may have said affordable homes costing £60,000 were coming to Swindon, but I think that’s rubbish. Where are they? I can’t see any.
Either a piece of clever politicking, just before polling day, or a rather rash outburst. Difficult to tell.
With Swindon being one of the trial areas for internet and telephone voting, I have this evening cast my vote online in what is otherwise Thursday’s local election. Rather surprisingly, there still seemed to be an option for delivering a spoilt ballot paper, as one could select too many candidates which, the site warned, would result in none of the votes being counted… not that I tested this functionality, so I can’t say whether it would actually have allowed this.
Having tried it once, I’ll be returning to conventional voting in future years if possible. Voting at home just doesn’t have the same sense of occasion, doesn’t have the feel of ‘doing democracy’ that going to a polling station, standing in a wooden booth and putting a cross in a box with a blunt, short stumpy pencil does.
The blue nest have finally popped something through my letterbox that tells me who their candidate is. Apparently she’s my ‘Only Local Choice’. If anything maybe too local. I’ve previously noted where the main candidates have located their nests. What’s not clear is whether the one local egg will stretch her wings much beyond the Broadgreen area. The Railway Village, Shrivenham Road, Westcott, and Rushy Platt areas are part of Central ward too.
Strange too, that, although in an area of Swindon that is graced with one of the blue nest’s In Touch websites, it’s the only one not to get a mention on their leaflet. Perhaps because it features the slightly less local Councillor Dickinson, who seems to have done a runner to West Swindon for re-election (where he’ll be even less local), and the none too local at all Councillor Darker.
It’s so nice to see so much independent thought from the candidates across Swindon in the local elections. For example, from the red nest, from Highworth to central Swindon, via Abbey Meads and Haydon Wick, compare and contrast. Just one four-or-five line paragraph of biography, then identical political statements. Are the needs of central Swindon really the same as rural Highworth? The blue nest is not much better. From Western ward through Gorsehill & Pinehurst to Penhill, all three candidates claim
I am community minded and as a Councillor will always put local residents first and be a strong voice only excepting the very best for residents – no excuses…. I have the energy, enthusiasm and drive to be a first class Councillor.
An interesting choice of words. Candidates Watton, Gallavin and Tomlinson, all committed to not giving Swindon the best: ‘a strong voice only excepting the very best for residents’. Proof-reading, what an undervalued profession. ’Tis slightly refreshing to see that their central Swindon candidate thought of something different to say. How about the yellow nest? Wow, they each have something different to say… or nothing to say at all.
I’m not particularly interested in the arguments over weekly vs fortnightly non-recyclable rubbish collections, nor convinced either way on the arguments. However, I am worried about the sanity of one of our local councillors, if he actually said what he’s reported to have said.
Mr Wren said that new wheelie bins being rolled out across Swindon in September will be airtight so smells cannot escape and animals cannot get in.
Airtight? If no smells could escape, then as waste rots and decomposes, the gas that’s given off would have nowhere to go. The bins would build up a little bit of pressure. Leave them long enough and they might explode (and before anyone accuses me of being alarmist, we’re talking little ‘pop’ type explosions here, not big bangs). It would certainly make the dustmen’s job exciting.
The latest little glossy leaflet from the red nest fulfils komadori’s prediction for the election. In a strange reversal of political reality, it claims law-and-order to be the responsibility of the local council and waste and recycling collections to be the responsibility of national government. In a strange reversal of economic reality, it claims that ‘house conversions have continued unabated into unwanted flats’ yet of those same unwanted flats ‘The high rents have driven people into multiple-occupancy and overcrowding.’ Prices rising for an unwanted commodity…. Novel.
Most bizarre though are some of the implications about their candidate.
With over 26 years experience of community representation as a councillor I know when a community has been let down.
Would that be through personal experience of letting communities down yourself? Perhaps the reason why you were unelected a few years ago?
Derique is a former Mayor with over 26 years experience as a Councillor in Swindon.
If the Tories were truly ‘In Touch’ why have they not sorted things out?
Err… and why didn’t you sort them out in your previous 26 years as a councillor, for much of which the red nest was in control?
As as a fine example of layout editing, in this glossy leaflet, below a photograph of a grimacing grinning Derique
They are happy to spend lots of your Council Tax money on glossy brochures full of cheesy smiling faces.
Someone take that pistol away quick, before they shoot themselves in the foot.
At least they’re telling me about their candidate, even if it’s not believable. So far communications from the red nest outnumber those from the blue nest four-to-one, and there hasn’t been a single chirp from the yellow nest yet.
Whilst walking home today, I saw shop fitters putting up the illuminated signage on a newly refitted shop at the local parade of shops. The shop, formerly a letting agent, had been closed for over four years and continues a recent upturn. The 12 bar is doing goodish business (despite its odd approach to opening hours), the local sub-post office was refitted just over a year ago and is now much brighter and the pharmacy was refitted after flooding last autumn. The Shanghai restaurant and associated take-away do a steady trade and the Greyhound pub has gained the business of the locals that used to frequent The Ship (now the 12 bar). Only the second-hand hardware shop and florist seem to be customer-free zones. So I hope the new shop does well.
The sign? ‘Smakosz Polish Delicatessen’.
The list of candidates in the local elections have now been published (though you have to search for your polling station by selecting ‘where’ before the site will tell you). (Actually, they’ve been published for about a week, but it’s taken me until now to work out how to get the list from the official site.) Those for central ward are an interesting bunch, honest. There’s David Cox (independent egg) who’s apparently taking the man-of-mystery approach. Listed next is Karsten Evans (green egg) whose only promise is “I can be a ‘pain in the neck’ when I need to be.” So no different from most other politicians then, for whom being a pain in the neck seems to come naturally. Other candidates are Karen Leakey (blue egg), Derique Joseph Montaut (red egg) and Steven Francis Pipe (yellow egg), all of whom, as predicted, are committed to fighting crime and anti-social behaviour, dealing with traffic congestion and protecting the green spaces in the town centre.
Swindon Borough Council’s Central Area Action Plan will be out for consultation from the end of this month. Whilst full of big visions that make good headlines, the ‘action’ will be spread over quite a long period… until 2026. Worth a look, if only to see if you can find some green arms and green legs to go with the proposed green spine. A green man amongst the streets of Swindon would be a unique planning concept.