Ridding the UK of Election Tellers
April 13th, 2011
We have both local elections and a referendum coming up in the UK and whilst I worked as a Poll Clerk at a polling station for the general election I am no longer eligible (as I am now a member of a political party), therefore I am no longer obliged to stay silent on the subject of POLLING TELLERS and how to help rid our elections of them.
Polling Tellers are normally the first people you see when you get to a polling station, they will normally ask you for your voter number, write it down, then point to inside where seeming the the process is repeated. What a lot of people don’t realise is these people are not part of the polling team and you have no legal obligation to speak to them. What they do is examine the numbers given to spot whether people they people they believe they know the voting preferences of (e.g. party members) have voted yet. I have no issue with what they do (in fact, anything that encourages anyone to vote is a good thing) but I take exception to the fact that in a lot of cases they masquerade as officials and rely on people’s ignorance of their purpose to obtain the data.
Well, whilst sitting in a very quiet polling station from 7am to 10pm (yep, the poor buggers generally do a 16hr day, then a lot head off to do the count afterwards too, plus the hourly pay is rubbish) I worked out how we could get rid of them.
They collect data, they want to know who has voted and who hasn’t, they only value they have is in the data they collect, so the answer is to poison the data to make it worthless. Now firstly I must stress these are people OUTSIDE the actual room where the voting is done, doing what I propose to an actual polling station officer or other electoral official is FRAUD and may result in JAIL. But, the people outside, have no official status and you are under no obligation to provide them with any info, or if you do provide them with info, you’re under no obligation to be accurate.
So, what I propose is as many people as possible request access to your constituency’s electoral register (normally held at the town hall), it’s your right to access it for free (though you will probably need an appointment), then on it, read the electoral number for the MPs standing, publicize them as much as possible and even write them on your polling card (despite what people think, the card isn’t required to vote, it’s simply a reminder, just giving the polling officer you name and address is enough), so when the teller asks you for your electoral number, you can simply read off the corresponding number for the MP they represent.
The end result? The main thing their data will tell them is that the MP they represent has just committed large scale electoral fraud (which obviously they haven’t, but their data will show they have voted multiple times and at the wrong polling stations) and hopefully, as their data is flawed, the political parties will stop using them.
There are also some more practical and less fun things you can do than data poisoning. Firstly, if you felt intimidated or they in any way impeded your entry into the polling station, INFORM THE POLLING OFFICER, who can have them removed, in fact, the official polling station handbook says this about tellers
Tellers
Tellers volunteer for candidates. They stand
outside polling stations or polling places and
record the elector number of voters who have
voted. By identifying electors who have not
voted and relaying this information to the
candidate or their supporters, tellers play a vital
and important role in elections. The candidate
or their supporters may then contact the voters
who have not yet been to vote and encourage
them to vote.
There should be no more than one teller at a
polling station for each candidate at any time.
Where a polling place contains more than one
polling station with separate entrances, it may
be appropriate for there to be tellers at each
entrance, but no more than one per candidate.
Tellers have no legal status and voters have the
right to refuse to give them any information. The
(Acting) Returning Officer or their staff may
provide further guidance on the activities of
tellers.
Tellers must:
• always remain outside the polling station
• only enter the polling station to cast their own
vote, to vote as a proxy or to accompany a
disabled voter
• always comply with the instructions of the
(Acting) Returning Officer and Presiding
Officer
Tellers must not:
• be able to see or hear what is happening
inside the polling station
• impede, obstruct or intimidate voters on their
way in or out of the polling station
• demand any information relating to an
elector’s elector number, name or address
• ask electors to re-enter the polling station to
ascertain their elector number
• have discussions with electors that may give
rise to allegations of undue influence (e.g.
voting intentions, party affiliations or party
campaigns)
• display any campaign material in support of
or against any particular political party or
candidate other than a rosette
Tellers may:
• approach voters for information as they enter
or leave the polling station
• display a coloured rosette displaying the
name of the candidate or political party; the
rosette should not bear a slogan and must
not be oversized
The Presiding Officer should check on tellers’
activities from time to time and make sure that
they do not block the entrance or hinder voters
from entering the polling station
So, if you see them breaking any of these rules, inform the polling officer who can have them removed.
More proactive people may wish to make up notices explaining that people in this area of the building are not official and you are under no obligation to surrender any information to them, then politely ask the Polling Officer if they object to you displaying the signs in the areas the tellers are frequenting.
More ideas welcome
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