Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire

[peterl]

Last year's result:

Conservative John Lamont 18,257 55.2% +10.3%
SNP Paul Wheelhouse 10,521 31.8% +5.4%
Liberal Democrats Jim Hume 2,551 7.7% -9.6%
Labour Barrie Cunning 1,766 5.3% -5.0%

[Tom]

Will be held on June 8th presumably? Easy Con hold. Would be good to get another female voice in the Scottish Parliament.

[Tom]

Odds of holding the Holyrood seat must be higher if it is concurrent with the General Election.

[marksenior]

Apr 25, 2017 16:20:08 GMT Tom said:

Odds of holding the Holyrood seat must be higher if it is concurrent with the General Election.

AFAIK the date of the by election is solely in the hands of the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament but it must be held within 3 months of him being notified of the vacancy .

[Tom]

Apr 25, 2017 18:13:57 GMT @fraser said:

From memory Mary Scanlon (Con) and Richard Lockhead (SNP) both resigned list seats to fight Moray while Mark Mcdonald (SNP) resigned his list seat to fight Aberdeen Donside I wonder wither Paul Wheelhouse will resign his list seat or will he duck the challenge?

I doubt he will, would be madness.

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2017 16:18:44 GMT @trident said:

It seems odd to jump the gun by resigning the Holyrood seat before getting elected to Westminster. Lamont must be very confident!

Yes, it's risky to leave a job without having a new one to go to.

[Tom]

[Deleted]

A very rare event, a Scottish Parliament byelection!

[Tom]

I hope they choose a female candidate. The Scottish Tories are too male heavy.

[No Offence Alan]

Apr 25, 2017 16:18:44 GMT @trident said:

It seems odd to jump the gun by resigning the Holyrood seat before getting elected to Westminster. Lamont must be very confident!

And it puts any other Tory MSPs representing FPTP seats who are standing for Westminster on the spot.
Are they not confident if they don't resign?

[Deleted]

[peterl]

That's an interesting point about the 16/17 year olds. Presumably, their date of birth will appear next to their entry on the register and the poll clerks will have to be alert to only issue 1 ballot paper to people with such an entry.

[mondialito]

Apr 28, 2017 9:46:17 GMT peterl said:

That's an interesting point about the 16/17 year olds. Presumably, their date of birth will appear next to their entry on the register and the poll clerks will have to be alert to only issue 1 ballot paper to people with such an entry.

That's only if the poll clerk notices. The capacity for human error in this situation is quite large.

[peterl]

If it were close for the Westminster seat, that could make a very interesting election petition.

[Deleted]

And of course, the boundaries are different...

[Foggy]

Apr 28, 2017 9:46:17 GMT peterl said:

That's an interesting point about the 16/17 year olds. Presumably, their date of birth will appear next to their entry on the register and the poll clerks will have to be alert to only issue 1 ballot paper to people with such an entry.

On my English postal vote declaration form, the first two digits of the date of birth were automatically filled in as '19'. Presumably this is not the case in Scotland. Any date of birth beginning with '20' will mean that a voter is only eligible to cast a ballot in the Holyrood poll, which should make things clear enough for poll clerks. Turnout is surely not particularly high among that demographic anyway.

[edinburghtory]

The Conservative selection meeting for this seat is on Sunday.

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2017 18:12:45 GMT Foggy said:

Apr 28, 2017 9:46:17 GMT peterl said:

That's an interesting point about the 16/17 year olds. Presumably, their date of birth will appear next to their entry on the register and the poll clerks will have to be alert to only issue 1 ballot paper to people with such an entry.

On my English postal vote declaration form, the first two digits of the date of birth were automatically filled in as '19'. Presumably this is not the case in Scotland. Any date of birth beginning with '20' will mean that a voter is only eligible to cast a ballot in the Holyrood poll, which should make things clear enough for poll clerks. Turnout is surely not particularly high among that demographic anyway.

I looked to see if anyone born in the 19th century is still with us. Sadly the very last individual to have been alive in that century passed away two weeks ago.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Apr 28, 2017 19:59:20 GMT joe said:

Apr 28, 2017 18:12:45 GMT Foggy said:

On my English postal vote declaration form, the first two digits of the date of birth were automatically filled in as '19'. Presumably this is not the case in Scotland. Any date of birth beginning with '20' will mean that a voter is only eligible to cast a ballot in the Holyrood poll, which should make things clear enough for poll clerks. Turnout is surely not particularly high among that demographic anyway.

I looked to see if anyone born in the 19th century is still with us. Sadly the very last individual to have been alive in that century passed away two weeks ago.

Apart from the two born in 1900 which were mentioned at the time.

[Foggy]

Apr 28, 2017 19:59:20 GMT joe said:

Apr 28, 2017 18:12:45 GMT Foggy said:

On my English postal vote declaration form, the first two digits of the date of birth were automatically filled in as '19'. Presumably this is not the case in Scotland. Any date of birth beginning with '20' will mean that a voter is only eligible to cast a ballot in the Holyrood poll, which should make things clear enough for poll clerks. Turnout is surely not particularly high among that demographic anyway.

I looked to see if anyone born in the 19th century is still with us. Sadly the very last individual to have been alive in that century passed away two weeks ago.

At no point was she eligible to vote in any British election, as far as I'm aware (she died an EU citizen but would not have been able to vote in local elections in the UK as she was never resident). The last Brit born in the 1800s passed away in 2013, so that part of the form was not presumptuous. If anything it's taking advantage of a short window of efficiency!