Chris from Brum
Lib Dem
What I need is a strong drink and a peer group.
Posts: 9,154
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Post by Chris from Brum on Feb 28, 2018 11:47:21 GMT
Light snow on and off in the Birmingham/Solihull area today. Forecast to be a bit breezy tomorrow afternoon, very cold with light snow all day.
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Post by BossMan on Feb 28, 2018 12:44:54 GMT
Light snow on and off in the Birmingham/Solihull area today. Forecast to be a bit breezy tomorrow afternoon, very cold with light snow all day. It is currently snowing heavily in Crewe. |
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Post by greenchristian on Feb 28, 2018 13:39:54 GMT
Light snow on and off in the Birmingham/Solihull area today. Forecast to be a bit breezy tomorrow afternoon, very cold with light snow all day. So much the same as Coventry is today. |
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Post by yellowperil on Feb 28, 2018 14:18:31 GMT
Looking at the forecast I expect East Devon and Clackmannanshire councils to tweet today that they are seeking legal action to postpone the elections by a week (as both areas have been placed under a red "Don't move" warning for tomorrow What are the precedents for that? |
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Feb 28, 2018 14:32:21 GMT
Looking at the forecast I expect East Devon and Clackmannanshire councils to tweet today that they are seeking legal action to postpone the elections by a week (as both areas have been placed under a red "Don't move" warning for tomorrow What are the precedents for that? Don't think there are any. Primary legislation was needed to postpone local elections in 2001 and 1979 (parishes). |
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The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
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Post by The Bishop on Feb 28, 2018 14:32:56 GMT
I think I vaguely recall it happening before in relatively recent memory, but could just have imagined it?
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peterl
Green
Monarchic Technocratic Localist
Posts: 8,044 
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Post by peterl on Feb 28, 2018 14:58:56 GMT
I seem to remember a presiding officer can adjourn a poll to the next day under certain circumstances.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Feb 28, 2018 15:12:07 GMT
Riot, not snow.
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Post by yellowperil on Feb 28, 2018 15:17:36 GMT
Atmospheric rioting?
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peterl
Green
Monarchic Technocratic Localist
Posts: 8,044
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Post by peterl on Feb 28, 2018 15:34:20 GMT
What happens if the presiding officer/poll clerk can't reach the polling station?
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Post by yellowperil on Feb 28, 2018 15:45:43 GMT
More seriously,if David is right and no legal means is there for any postponement, there are interesting questions about the impact on turnout. There will be ,presumably, a greater than usual importance given to the postal vote, especially in the Exmouth context - one might expect that to favour the established parties, and in the Exmouth case where it is a Lib Dem defence and the candidate has been agent for quite a long time, maybe in this case it might favour the Lib Dem over the high profile Indy? Or will the Tories say have the better PV organisation? Or will the Indy have the benefit from an unusual amount of organisation given the strong Indy General Election performance last time?Or indeed will the Indy pick up postal votes organised by Cons or LibDems? Questions,questions!
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Post by andrewp on Feb 28, 2018 16:08:38 GMT
More seriously,if David is right and no legal means is there for any postponement, there are interesting questions about the impact on turnout. There will be ,presumably, a greater than usual importance given to the postal vote, especially in the Exmouth context - one might expect that to favour the established parties, and in the Exmouth case where it is a Lib Dem defence and the candidate has been agent for quite a long time, maybe in this case it might favour the Lib Dem over the high profile Indy? Or will the Tories say have the better PV organisation? Or will the Indy have the benefit from an unusual amount of organisation given the strong Indy General Election performance last time?Or indeed will the Indy pick up postal votes organised by Cons or LibDems? Questions,questions! The Independent vote in Exmouth is a tricky one for the prediction comp! |
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Post by yellowperil on Feb 28, 2018 16:37:18 GMT
I notice by the way that the latest Metoffice weather warnings, Exmouth is "only" Amber for tomorrow,but Clackmannanshire is indeed within the red zone, while Basingstoke and Solihull are on the borders of yellow,so probably okay.
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Post by Andrew_S on Feb 28, 2018 17:18:50 GMT
The weather forecast for Exmouth on Thursday is like something out of "The Day After Tomorrow". The turnout without the postal votes should be interesting! You're not wrong: www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2649800 |
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Post by gwynthegriff on Feb 28, 2018 17:47:15 GMT
What happens if the presiding officer/poll clerk can't reach the polling station? I suspect it depends on the circumstances and the outcome. Presumably if it's all day then an electoral court will require a re-run. If they're an hour late ... maybe not. Then add in the size of the electorate of that station against the electorate in total, and the result. A few years ago ballot papers for Crewe East were delivered to a Crewe North polling station. Two hours later somebody noticed (which says something about the sophistication of the electorate and the attention of the staff). But since only 50 ballots had been issued and the majority was several hundred ... But my money would be on a rerun. |
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Post by johnloony on Mar 1, 2018 3:40:24 GMT
I seem to remember a presiding officer can adjourn a poll to the next day under certain circumstances. They can if it is force majeure (which, as far as I know, is not specifically defined, but is usually taken to mean flood or earthquake or a similar catastrophe). I think the abandonment of a poll can only be done on the day itself rather than be planned in advance. If the snow conditions are genuinely so dangerous that it is not possible for the staff to get to the polling station safely, or for voters to do so, I guess it might be possible that a Returning Officer might take an ad-hoc decision to abandon the poll anyway, and worry about whether it was legal to do so, afterwards. |
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Post by froome on Mar 1, 2018 8:43:54 GMT
I notice by the way that the latest Metoffice weather warnings, Exmouth is "only" Amber for tomorrow,but Clackmannanshire is indeed within the red zone, while Basingstoke and Solihull are on the borders of yellow,so probably okay. We now have a red warning covering much of Devon and Somerset. Exmouth is on the edge of the area covered. A red warning means 'do not travel'. I don't see how a vote can take place in those conditions, although the Exmouth ward is a central town ward, which is very different from a rural one. Here in Bath we are outside of the red warning area, but it has been snowing fairly hard all morning so far and predicted to get much heavier. |
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Harry Hayfield
Green
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Post by Harry Hayfield on Mar 1, 2018 8:48:27 GMT
I notice by the way that the latest Metoffice weather warnings, Exmouth is "only" Amber for tomorrow,but Clackmannanshire is indeed within the red zone, while Basingstoke and Solihull are on the borders of yellow,so probably okay. We now have a red warning covering much of Devon and Somerset. Exmouth is on the edge of the area covered. A red warning means 'do not travel'. I don't see how a vote can take place in those conditions, although the Exmouth ward is a central town ward, which is very different from a rural one. Here in Bath we are outside of the red warning area, but it has been snowing fairly hard all morning so far and predicted to get much heavier. This is precisely what I have said on Britain Elects twitter feed about Exmouth. In fact I am amazed that East Devon council are still sitting on their hands over this. If I was the returning officer I would have announced a cancellation the very second that red alert was issued. |
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Post by Old Fashioned Leftie on Mar 1, 2018 8:52:39 GMT
We now have a red warning covering much of Devon and Somerset. Exmouth is on the edge of the area covered. A red warning means 'do not travel'. I don't see how a vote can take place in those conditions, although the Exmouth ward is a central town ward, which is very different from a rural one. Here in Bath we are outside of the red warning area, but it has been snowing fairly hard all morning so far and predicted to get much heavier. This is precisely what I have said on Britain Elects twitter feed about Exmouth. In fact I am amazed that East Devon council are still sitting on their hands over this. If I was the returning officer I would have announced a cancellation the very second that red alert was issued. If the local authority refuses to take action in these circumstances, and voter turnout (excluding postal votes) is derisory, I wonder whether there should be at least a moral obligation on the winning candidate to say I do not have a mandate and resign to force another by-election? |
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carlton43
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Post by carlton43 on Mar 1, 2018 9:27:42 GMT
This is precisely what I have said on Britain Elects twitter feed about Exmouth. In fact I am amazed that East Devon council are still sitting on their hands over this. If I was the returning officer I would have announced a cancellation the very second that red alert was issued. If the local authority refuses to take action in these circumstances, and voter turnout (excluding postal votes) is derisory, I wonder whether there should be at least a moral obligation on the winning candidate to say I do not have a mandate and resign to force another by-election? Truly we have a Snoflake Generation now........literally. Russia and Finland cancel all elections for a third of a year!!! |
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