General Election 2010: Democracy is denied as voters are barred from polling stations

Published on Friday 7 May 2010 06:26

A MAJOR inquiry is to be held after scenes more reminiscent of a Third World poll unfolded in Britain last night, with thousands of would-be voters said to have missed out before the 10pm cut-off time.

Larger-than-expected turn-outs were blamed for chaos at polling stations which led to sit-in protests, police being called in to restore order, ballot papers running out and reports of queues as long as three hours.

Major problems were reported at polling stations in several parts of London, as well as in Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, as staff struggled to cope with a late surge of voters.

In some places, voters were ushered into the building before 10pm to allow the doors to be shut, but in others people who had queued for some time were turned away before the cut-off.

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The Electoral Commission promised a "thorough review" into the problems and said it was a cause for "serious concern" that many people who wanted to vote were prevented from doing so. Jenny Watson, head of the commission, admitted legal challenges to some ballot results were now likely.

She said: "Clearly, we are going to look at this. It may be that the law needs to change."

A spokesman for Gordon Brown said the Prime Minister was very concerned about the reports of people being turned away from polling stations and "would support a thorough investigation into them".

Conservative leader David Cameron said: "An early task for a new government is to get to the bottom of what has happened and make sure that it never happens again."

In Sheffield Hallam, where Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was standing, the city's returning officer apologised to people prevented from voting. Mr Clegg also apologised to voters who had to queue for up to three hours.

A number of voters, mainly students, were turned away after attempting to vote shortly before the 10pm deadline.

John Mothersole, the returning officer, said: "I would like to apologise. We were faced with a difficult situation with the numbers of people, and a large amount of students turning up to vote without polling cards."

Students tried to prevent ballot boxes being taken away for the count at Sheffield after being turned away from the Ranmoor polling station.

They set up a Facebook group to protest over what they regarded as unfair treatment, after local residents were put in a separate fast queue to vote in the evening. Students were then told there was no time for them to do so.

Sheffield University student Kate Baldwin, 19, who set up the group, said she queued for two hours to vote at the St Johns polling station, with hundreds of others.

She said: "It was just plain discrimination. People were disgusted. This was the first time people like me were voting and then this happens. It was horrendous what happened there."

Voters in Hackney, east London, staged a sit-in at a polling station when they were told they could not vote after being forced to queue for more than an hour and a half.

At least 150 people were queuing when the polls closed, according to Andrew Boff, Conservative mayoral candidate, who said many others had earlier given up in the face of the long queues.

"At 10pm, the ballot boxes were closed and people were told they would not have a vote," he said. "People were very angry."

Jo-Ann Stranger, who failed to vote in Hackney South and Shoreditch, said: "I, with about 100 other people, were turned away from our local polling station, having waited 45 minutes to vote. The officers closed the door on the queue at 9.50pm, refusing entry to anyone standing outside.

"It is an outrage in a civilised country like ours that this can happen, especially to people who are trying to vote after doing a day's work."

Police were called to restore order at a polling station in Lewisham, south London, where about 300 people had not voted by 10pm.

Doors were also closed on about 200 potential voters at two polling stations in Withington, in Manchester.

In Newcastle-upon-Tyne, hundreds of queuing voters were ushered into two polling stations before the 10pm deadline and they were allowed to vote after the cut-off point because they were safely inside, a city council spokesman said.

Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, said it would be quite right if some results were challenged because voters were turned away without being able to cast their ballot.

Ms Harman said: "If there is any close outcome that is going to be produced by that, there should be a legal challenge – and quite right, too.

"It is fundamental that people get their right to vote."

Conservative chairman Eric Pickles said: "It's ridiculous. Of course people should be able to vote. Surely to goodness the returning officers could have just put the people in the polling station and continued."

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Voters queue for more than an hour, then turned away as polling closes