Last night saw me at the Town Hall along with a group of other candiate/agent/organisers from different political parties for the annual returning officer's briefing on the rules surrounding the election process. David Kidger has this down to a fine art. So he should being something of an expert on elections. He is frequently consulted on arrangements all over the world.
Nothing much new, but it was good to be reminded about some of the rules surrounding the form filling.
A bit of a debate about rules about the boxes that get put outside the polling stations (for those outside Liverpool these seem to replace tellers). Personally I would ban the boxes. They are a real pain just at the point when you are very tired. And actually I think the data within them has become pretty suspect. But I appear to hold a minority view on this.
Interesting to see that the Green party opted to receive all the electoral roll stuff on paper whereas the rest of us went for CDs!
And the BNP's interest in carrying out citizens arrests if they don't like your leaflet was a tad worrying. I can tell them now they won't like mine!
9 comments:
No PM Swimmer.. I can't post what you have written as it would breach the laws governing contempt of court. I don;t care if other websites do it.
However your assumption is wrong. the BNP specifically mentioned a labour leaflet they were wound up about. I have no idea whether this actually exists, or when it was produced or where as very sensibly the chair moved things on at that point probably feeling that raking over the past was not the purpose of the election briefing.
You mentioned paper and CDs. Yes they do both have to be manufactured, but given that the main purpose of all those electoral rolls is to enable the Green party to check the numbers of the people signing the nomination forms, this can easily be done using a CD and not printing off reams.
are you standing again for the council Paula?
you have an odd idea of contempt of court being that I never mentioned any details of a court case at all.
According to your definition the Daily Post would never have been able to print any details of impending court cases around election fraud.
Which is something I'm sure all politicians would be grateful for,
sorry PM Swimmer.. there is a difference between reporting the details of a court case upcoming - name charge date etc, and implying guilt. what you had written implied guilt. If you don;t believe me about the difference either ask a journalist or check out McNaes Essential Law for Journalists - the bible as far as reporting law goes.
Hello Rob
I am standing, I was selected in December for Cressington ward.
sorry PM Swimmer.. there is a difference between reporting the details of a court case upcoming - name charge date etc, and implying guilt. what you had written implied guilt. If you don;t believe me about the difference either ask a journalist or check out McNaes Essential Law for Journalists - the bible as far as reporting law goes.
hi again paula
Cressington eh? intresting change for you
how diffrent a challenge do you think it will be representing a more affluent area, after being a Garston cllr? on the face you woudl say it would be easier surely?
I suppose as the current cllr for Cressington has now found herself a seat in the North she wil be able to answer the same question in reverse in a few months
can i ask for an honest answer as well as to whether you would rather of faced Cllr Frankel in Cressington or you are happy that labour will prob put up a paper candidate?
Kidger is great but he did get a couple of things wrong I think (surrounding the validity of councillors depending on how they fill in their forms) but no big deal.
The BNP it seems were casting aspersions without actually being able to give details. (It was ever thus!) Interesting that they remain the only party to use a PO Box instead of a proper address. Something to hide?!
the BNP PO Box address postcode shows this must be an address very near my house. Yet there is no address on the electoral roll with exactly that postcode. So, either someone who doesn't bother to register to vote, or someone using an empty property. I have ruled out the shop round the corner as that is run by a nice group of Sri Lankans!
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