Decisions are made by those who show up
I've been thinking this evening about all the polls that are predicting a crushing defeat for the 'yes to AV' camp, i.e. the camp that I'm in. It depends how the poll is conducted, but if it's just an opinion poll, it's meaningless. My gut feeling (just like Cameron's gut feeling that FPTP is the right system) is that more people who are interested in elections and politics are going to vote 'yes'. The people who have been swayed by the 'AV is too complicated' argument are more likely to be the sort of people who don't bother voting in a referendum. Here in County Durham, there aren't any local elections so the referendum is the only reason to go to the polling station. So you've got to be interested in it to vote at all. I haven't quite lost hope yet!
When I went to vote, I discovered that my polling station was a temporary structure put up specially. It was basically a shipping container with windows and a door. In order to get through the door you had to cross a short grass verge and then step over a threshold - so not only was it difficult to access for those with mobility problems, it was completely inaccessible to wheelchair users. I asked the polling station staff about this, and they said they were to take the ballot box outside for a wheelchair user to vote. This is unacceptable in my view - why should someone have to mark their ballot outside the polling station, in public, just because they are in a wheelchair? I wrote to the council to complain, and copied in Scope (who run a campaign to make elections accessible to all) and my former employers The Electoral Commission as they are responsible for running the referendum. I'll see what their response is.
Did a big trip to the tip (sorry, 'Household Waste Recycling Centre') today to offload some of the cardboard that is currently filling half the garage after the kitchen works. Will have to make another trip to get rid of the rest. Potatoes are going very well. Strawberries look to be still alive.
When I went to vote, I discovered that my polling station was a temporary structure put up specially. It was basically a shipping container with windows and a door. In order to get through the door you had to cross a short grass verge and then step over a threshold - so not only was it difficult to access for those with mobility problems, it was completely inaccessible to wheelchair users. I asked the polling station staff about this, and they said they were to take the ballot box outside for a wheelchair user to vote. This is unacceptable in my view - why should someone have to mark their ballot outside the polling station, in public, just because they are in a wheelchair? I wrote to the council to complain, and copied in Scope (who run a campaign to make elections accessible to all) and my former employers The Electoral Commission as they are responsible for running the referendum. I'll see what their response is.
Did a big trip to the tip (sorry, 'Household Waste Recycling Centre') today to offload some of the cardboard that is currently filling half the garage after the kitchen works. Will have to make another trip to get rid of the rest. Potatoes are going very well. Strawberries look to be still alive.