Doug/All,
Thanks for this. My interest is that at present I'm working on a piece of
work for a US client looking at electronic voting and it includes a
consideration of voter privacy and ballot security methods in other election
jurisdictions.
The tellers were waiting outside the polling station (as I mentioned) but
they were quizzing people as they were going in - which it seems they
shouldn't. Not that I 'particularly' minded, and I only related that it was
the Conservative teller because it was. I'm grateful for the explanation of
how the British system should work. I'm not sure whether you've taken
offence or not but my anecdote wasn't intended in any way to be political,
just a bit of Friday afternoon chat.
Sincere apologies if it's upset anyone.
regards,
Kevin.
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Colyer [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 08 June 2001 16:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Electoral rolls and election canvassing
I think Kevin may be being disingenuous about the election procedure. The
people he is referring to are the 'tellers'. They work for their own
political party, and are usually enthusiastic amateurs. The Presiding
Officer who is in charge of that particular polling station is charged with
ensuring that all persons wishing to vote have unimpeded access. Presiding
Officers are instructed that they must ensure all tellers are aware of the
election requirements. These include not attempting to obtain information
from voters on their way into the Polling Station; not blocking the entrance
and certainly not occupying the area within the Polling Station. Because
tellers work in shifts it usually becomes necessary to remind tellers
throughout the day about their responsibility not to accost voters on their
way in. To ensure that they are without doubt aware of the rules, a notice
is displayed on the outside of the Polling Station detailing the rules for
tellers. They have no legal function in the running of the election. All
Political Parties are aware of this fact.
On the way out, and off the Polling Station, it is generally perceived that
tellers may ask voters for details. This is a free country and it is up to
the voter to ignore the tellers if they so wish. The only advantage to
providing the name or electoral roll reference is that it often saves knocks
on the door later by opportunist party workers offering to run you down to
vote, hopefully for their party.
As to the ignorance of the Conservative party teller, it is not uncommon to
find ignorant tellers of all parties. As a Presiding Officer of many years
standing I have endured instances of ignorance from some of the voters that
I am there to serve, particularly when by no fault of mine they have been
omitted from the Register. I believe it wrong to condemn all voters because
of a small minority and I would suggest that it is also wrong to condemn any
party outright for the failings of one willing but stupid amateur teller.
Whilst the Electoral Register remains a public document and the voting
procedure remains as at present then all Political parties will use tellers
to mark off voters who have cast a vote. It will remain a secret vote if
you don't tell a teller how you voted. My advice is to wish them " a good
day" as you leave the Polling Station, and report them to the Presiding
Officer if they become objectionable or officious.
As to Data Protection implications there are none. Your name and Electoral
Register entry number are on the Electoral Register, but unless the tellers
know you personally then they can't mark you off as having voted.
Douglas Colyer
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Broadfoot [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 08 June 2001 14:35
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Electoral rolls and election canvassing
Just to add a little anecdote to yesterday's discussion about electoral
rolls and DP.
When I went to the polling station yesterday evening the usual party workers
were waiting outside with their clip boards collecting details of who was
turning up to vote.
Largely because of yesterday afternoon's discussion I decided to ask them
what they would do with the information and whether they thought there may
be any DP implications. They all politely explained that they only
collected electoral roll numbers and that they couldn't identify an
individual from these!
Expressing surprise that anyone would collect meaningless numbers - this
exercise seemed to be the political equivalent of train spotting - I
enquired what was the good of the number by itself. I was then told that
you could look it up on the electoral roll to see who had turned up to
vote!! Obviously didn't understand cross referencing!
In some US States canvassing closer than 600 yards outside polling stations
is prohibited by law ( this is to give the electorate time to reach their
cars and escape!) so I also asked whether there was any regulation governing
what they did and was told "it's part of the electoral process!"
I asked about whether there might be any DP implications and the
Conservative party worker replied that the DPA was a dreadful piece of
legislation that should never have been introduced! I said I thought it was
quite a useful piece of legislation from an individual's point of view and
did something to redress the balance and recognise that people have rights.
"Human rights!" was the reply, "We don't believe in Human Rights!" He then
launched into an attack on the European Convention on Human Rights as "the
cause of all kinds of problems we don't need" and then he asked me if I was
going to vote for his candidate!
And they wonder why we don't bother listening to them or voting for them
anymore!
regards,
Kevin Broadfoot.
Principal Consultant, Baltimore Technologies plc, Innovation House, Mark
Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 7DN Tel: +44 (0) 1442 342600
Fax: +44 (0) 1442 266438
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