West Midlands PCC

[No Offence Alan]

Aug 21, 2014 14:20:42 GMT Merseymike said:

I hope the turnout is low enough to inspire us to finally put these ridiculous roles to permanent rest

Or hold the elections on the same day as local elections when the turnout will miraculously increase.

[johnloony]

I can't remember - did any of the PCC elections in 2012 count and declare by local authority area, or did they all have a centralised count? If the latter, why has the former been done this time?

[Richard Allen]

Aug 22, 2014 18:30:56 GMT johnloony said:

I can't remember - did any of the PCC elections in 2012 count and declare by local authority area, or did they all have a centralised count? If the latter, why has the former been done this time?

I think that they were all counted by local authority area in 2012.

[iainbhx]

Aug 22, 2014 19:55:05 GMT Richard Allen said:

Aug 22, 2014 18:30:56 GMT johnloony said:

I can't remember - did any of the PCC elections in 2012 count and declare by local authority area, or did they all have a centralised count? If the latter, why has the former been done this time?

I think that they were all counted by local authority area in 2012.

They were in the West Midlands.

[swindonlad]

Aug 22, 2014 18:30:56 GMT johnloony said:

I can't remember - did any of the PCC elections in 2012 count and declare by local authority area, or did they all have a centralised count? If the latter, why has the former been done this time?

They were counted by local authority & they should have been declared by LA, I know Wiltshire was declared separately to Swindon

[Deleted]

All elections have something of interest about them. We know now that the base level of West Mids electoral turnout is about 11%.

[iainbhx]

Aug 23, 2014 8:46:49 GMT doktorb🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ said:

All elections have something of interest about them. We know now that the base level of West Mids electoral turnout is about 11%.

I am informed that the majority of votes cast were postal votes, this doesn't surprise me at all.

[Andrew_S]

I thought it was possible turnout might increase very slightly from Nov 2012. Although that didn't happen it was interesting that it only decreased slightly. Predictions of a 5% turnout turned out to be wide of the mark.

[mick745]

You have to conclude that the vast majority of people are saying they don't want PCCs. I remember some polls setting out recognition levels of politicians. Stephen Dorrell famously once scored a 2% recognition score when he was in John Major's cabinet. I would be interested in knowing what percentage of people could name their PCC or recognise a picture of them. How often do any of the PCCs activities become newsworthy? This is hardly changing people's lives is it?

[Richard Allen]

Aug 24, 2014 7:57:24 GMT mick745 said:

You have to conclude that the vast majority of people are saying they don't want PCCs. I remember some polls setting out recognition levels of politicians. Stephen Dorrell famously once scored a 2% recognition score when he was in John Major's cabinet. I would be interested in knowing what percentage of people could name their PCC or recognise a picture of them. How often do any of the PCCs activities become newsworthy? This is hardly changing people's lives is it?

We most certainly don't have to conclude any such thing. There have been plenty of local by elections with a lower turnout than this. Based on your logic we would conclude that people in those wards don't want councillors.

[The Bishop]

Aug 24, 2014 9:21:33 GMT Richard Allen said:

Aug 24, 2014 7:57:24 GMT mick745 said:

You have to conclude that the vast majority of people are saying they don't want PCCs. I remember some polls setting out recognition levels of politicians. Stephen Dorrell famously once scored a 2% recognition score when he was in John Major's cabinet. I would be interested in knowing what percentage of people could name their PCC or recognise a picture of them. How often do any of the PCCs activities become newsworthy? This is hardly changing people's lives is it?

We most certainly don't have to conclude any such thing. There have been plenty of local by elections with a lower turnout than this. Based on your logic we would conclude that people in those wards don't want councillors.

That is maybe overstating it a bit, certainly since postal votes became more widely available.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

My impression is that there have not been many local authority byelections with a turnout under 10%.

[East Anglian Lefty]

I don't think we can conclude that people dislike the concept of PCCs from their failure to vote. I think we can assume that there's no particular enthusiasm for them though and that there is a vast reservoir of disinterest about who has responsibility for oversight of the police. It's not an active message of support for their abolition, but it's yet more evidence that nobody will care when they're abolished.

[greenchristian]

Agree with several posters that the low turnout indicates apathy, rather than opposition.

[neilm]

Yes indeed. If this was sold properly, there would be a lot more interest. As it is, publicity the first time around was woeful.

[The Bishop]

When turnout is *this* low, it can at least be argued that there is more to it than simple apathy.

I certainly encountered some outright hostility to these elections back in November 2012.

[No Offence Alan]

Aug 25, 2014 11:25:59 GMT The Bishop said:

When turnout is *this* low, it can at least be argued that there is more to it than simple apathy.

I certainly encountered some outright hostility to these elections back in November 2012.

When I belonged to a trade union, turnout in the all-postal all-member ballots for union officials was usually in single figure percentages.

[East Anglian Lefty]

Aug 24, 2014 19:41:56 GMT neilm said:

Yes indeed. If this was sold properly, there would be a lot more interest. As it is, publicity the first time around was woeful.

It led the news and everybody on the register got sent a ballot. A freepost might have helped, but that's mostly because the apathy extended to political activists too. It doesn't matter how you sell it, the method of public oversight of the police is clearly a subject of extreme disinterest to the public.

[neilm]

I remember it leading the news on the day but not before. A serious media campaign by the Home Office would have helped.

[Richard Allen]

I am not going to argue that awareness was the only problem but I know plenty of people who had no idea that there was an election last Thursday.