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Related: About this forumVote early, vote often
Today I get to vote three times in the referendum!* Whoopee for me.
I'm about to go out into the blazing sunshine and do the deed, and expect the polling station to be pretty low-key even around lunchtime, but we'll see.
This and the neighbouring village are just about the only places in the whole area where I've seen lamp-post posters for either side, and here they're Vote Leave. Must be an enthused cabal in residence. Polls reckon Scotland's going to vote Remain, and more decisively than in the rest of the UK.
Thought we could do with a thread to share voting experiences/angst etc.etc.
* Proxy votes for two pals who're on holiday.
Ironing Man
(164 posts)voting in Wyre Forest was brisk, probably 30-odd people in and around the polling station, with half a dozen additions every couple of minutes.
it was busier than i've ever seen it, and the clerks were adamant that on the basis of what they'd seen so far, turnout would be higher than normal for a GE - which has hovered around the 62-63-64% in the last three...
muriel_volestrangler
(101,316 posts)This is a strong Lib Dem area, so I hope this doesn't indicate apathy from potential Remain voters. I put up a 'Remain' poster in my window yesterday; the only other I've seen in my road was 'Leave'.
Denzil_DC
(7,241 posts)One Remain, one Leave and one Cock & Balls.
The staff said it had been quite busy so far. Not many people there at 1 p.m., but most folks round here who work commute, so it's no indication.
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)Was that one of your proxy votes? Did they specify what they wanted? Hairy balls? Jizzy cock? Or just standard?
Denzil_DC
(7,241 posts)It's a traditional motif when spoiling one's ballot paper. So I'm told ...
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)When I lived in Manor House (North London) there was a particularly prolific graffiti artist who decorated every abandoned shop door with a cock and balls - always with hairy balls and jizz. He wasn't a very good artist, but he was persistent.
My reply above was a little joke as well.
Denzil_DC
(7,241 posts)I guessed as much, but thought I'd better clarify for any passersby before I got alerted by some trigger-happy soul and locked out of me own thread on this of all nights.
Driving to vote was quite colourful, what with the sun and all. One big house on the shore road had a brand-spanking-new EU flag flying from its flagpole (some folks in the bigger houses round here run to flagpoles), others a couple of saltires (Scottish flag, white X on a blue background), which are pretty much permanent fixtures, and one with a twinned saltire and what my own spouse (an American like yourself, still a US citizen, so no vote here either) identified as a Jamaican flag.
Me: Pot smokers, then?
Her: Yup. Moved in a while back, been flying it ever since.
Me: A wee bit blatant, huh?
Stocked up with a couple of bottles of Peroni from the local Co-op (don't usually drink lager, but thought I'd go with the Continental flow and it's quite passable if chilled to near zero) and their own-brand Mature Cheddar and Spring Onion Flavour Potato Crisps (more moreish than smack, possibly more harmful to boot), so I'm all set for kick-off at 10 p.m.
Hang in there. It may be a long night.
I never do poll predictions, but on pure gutfeel I'm going for 55% Remain, 45% Leave, if only for the echoes of the Scottish referendum result: "Suck it up. The people have spoken and the question's settled for a generation!"
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)I normally don't like salt and vinegar crisps, but I can happily make myself ill scoffing those down.
You know your spouse can do UK citizenship without giving up her American passport now? That wasn't the case when I moved to the UK in 08, but it is now. I haven't done it yet because it costs something like 1000 quid, but when we've got a spare thousand, I'm going to. I want to be able to vote. I suppose if I have both passports I can vote in both places? I need to check that. I've got Indefinite Leave to Remain, which means I can use the NHS, go on benefits (not that I'm planning on it), etc, but not vote.
Absolutely pissing down in London this morning apparently. Tube was borked because of the rain - took husband 2 hours to get from Brixton to Paddington. Where are you guys then?
I'm an hour later in France (2 weeks down here dealing with a property) so I'm definitely going to wait til tomorrow morning to get the results. Hope they let me back in if Leave wins!
I hope your predictive powers are good. Jesus, I hope you're right.
Denzil_DC
(7,241 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,316 posts)How dare that suburb have a tree in it! It's probably a Brussels requirement ...
Is that real?
Denzil_DC
(7,241 posts)"If you don't want swarms of swarthy voters swinging through the trees to the pulse of bongo drums to force you to stay in the EU ..."
I got it off Twitter. It's reported in the Mirror and Telegraph, so it must be real:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/eu-referendum-day-live-police-8262829
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/23/eu-referendum-boris-johnson-says-a-brexit-will-be-a-turning-poin/
Not sure where "the heartlands" of the UK are either. If not London, with the vast bulk of the population, then where???
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)"All the browns and poors in Brixton can keep you from making the whole bloody country just like Tumbridge Wells*! Don't let them take our dream of Isolationist Britain away!"
*No offense to the good people of Tumbridge Wells, where my spouse spent part of his childhood. Also no offense to Brixton, where I currently live.
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)I'm in France at the mo anyway, but I wish I could have voted. Will be sweating it til results tomorrow.
Good luck everybody! Let's see if we can avoid this completely avoidable fucking disaster!
muriel_volestrangler
(101,316 posts)Last edited Thu Jun 23, 2016, 05:56 PM - Edit history (1)
and Farage will start to make noises about a fixed vote, but the Tory Leavers won't bite, and he won't follow through.
Gove will resign from the cabinet.
(On edit: 52-48 turns out to be the YouGov 'recontact' poll result: https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/06/23/yougov-day-poll/
"Joe Twyman, YouGov's Head of Political and Social Research: "Today YouGov conducted a survey, going back to the same people we spoke to yesterday to find out how they actually voted. The survey found a small move to Remain and based on these results we expect the United Kingdom to continue as a member of the European Union."
Broken down into groups here: https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/640yx5m0rx/On_the_Day_FINAL_poll_forwebsite.pdf
auntpurl
(4,311 posts)But here is again, like a persistent fungus.
Hope to see the permanent back of Gove as well. One of my friends is a head teacher and I genuinely think he would murder Gove if he ever met him.
LeftishBrit
(41,205 posts)Denzil_DC
(7,241 posts)The UKIP leader said it had been an "extraordinary" campaign and it looked like turnout had been "exceptionally high".
...
A YouGov opinion poll projection put Remain on 52% and Leave on 48%.
...
The estimated turnout has been put at 83.7%
http://news.sky.com/story/1716585/nigel-farage-looks-like-remain-will-edge-it
Farage doesn't strike me as one for reverse headfaking. On the other hand, nor does he strike me as being reliable on anything. But I'd imagine he'd be more bullish right now if he had reason to think the vote was going to go his way.
That's a pretty astronomical turnout if it proves true.
Corporate666
(587 posts)Looks like the leave vote is doing a lot better than expected.
Newcastle was expected to be strongly remain, but it was very close.
Sunderland was strongly leave.
Pundits on TV are saying in other places, the leave vote is substantially higher than expected.
Denzil_DC
(7,241 posts)All LA areas voted Remain:
Remain 1,661,191 (62.0%)
Leave 1,018,322 (38.0%)
Not that it looks like it'll make a difference at the moment unless the remaining London boroughs pull something out of the hat.
Now, what were those detailed plans for the Brexit process? Boris ...? Nigel ...? Michael ...? Anyone ...? Hello ...? Hello ...?