A protest vote is usually for the candidate or party who are second most likely to win.
I'm not sure if two minor parties and an independent would affect this much.
The point is: there is a ConLib government, and many use these elections as an opportunity to register their displeasure. Voting Lib Dem or Tory doesn't really tell anyone much in that respect. Disaffected voters could vote for either party in this manner, nullifying the effort. To register the most effective 'protest' vote, one would have to guess who would be the most popular Labour or other 'minority' party or candidate.
The point is: there is a ConLib government, and many use these elections as an opportunity to register their displeasure. Voting Lib Dem or Tory doesn't really tell anyone much in that respect. Disaffected voters could vote for either party in this manner, nullifying the effort. To register the most effective 'protest' vote, one would have to guess who would be the most popular Labour or other 'minority' party or candidate.
I understand what you're saying but that's not really a "protest vote", it's just voting for a minor party because you don't like what the major ones have to offer. A "protest vote" in West Berkshire would mean voting for the second most popular party.
Another point of interest for me was there are no Greens this time, despite the party gaining an MP at the last General Election.
RG standing in Speen? Don't want to win then Richard?
I do want to win, and I think it will be a close call. My running mate was turned down due to an error with her paperwork, which obviously puts me at a massive disadvantage!!! We'll keep fighting though, I have to go from ZERO to 1,300 to stand a chance!!!
I do want to win, and I think it will be a close call. My running mate was turned down due to an error with her paperwork, which obviously puts me at a massive disadvantage!!! We'll keep fighting though, I have to go from ZERO to 1,300 to stand a chance!!!
I just think that the norm is for someone to pick two people from the same party and obviously I have to put in even more canvassing as a single member. Saying that, it could be an advantage, I've never done politics before so it's all really new.
I'm looking forward to the experience, whether I get elected or not. The response has been really positive so far.
I understand what you're saying but that's not really a "protest vote", it's just voting for a minor party because you don't like what the major ones have to offer.
Ordinarily yes, but we have a coalition government..
A "protest vote" in West Berkshire would mean voting for the second most popular party.
So a Lib Dem supporter living in a Lib Dem ward would vote for the Tories? For me, a 'real' protest would be voting for anyone other than Tory/Lib Dem.
I notice that the Labour candidate for Kintbury won't be able to stand as they were not 18 on the day of nomination. Was the poor lad coerced into doing it?
I notice that the Labour candidate for Kintbury won't be able to stand as they were not 18 on the day of nomination. Was the poor lad coerced into doing it?
No. Adam really wanted to stand, and the wording on the nomination form suggests that you have to be 18 on polling day. It's just poor wording, and it's a real shame he can't stand as he would have been an excellent councillor. Adam is a former member of youth parliament, and I'm sure he will be a future Newbury MP.
No. Adam really wanted to stand, and the wording on the nomination form suggests that you have to be 18 on polling day. It's just poor wording, and it's a real shame he can't stand as he would have been an excellent councillor. Adam is a former member of youth parliament, and I'm sure he will be a future Newbury MP.
His allegiance to the Labour party is under question then?
RG falls at the first hurde - not qualified to stand for election to NTC from Falkland Ward.
Have they explained why Richard?
They have, but it doesn't make sense. I've put it into the hands of the Labour Party compliance team, who are already looking at why we were only supplied with certain paperwork at the election agents meeting. We ended up losing 11 candidates because we couldn't get back in touch with all of our candidates over the weekend. They also checked the two forms they have ruled out from district on Friday, said they were acceptable then rejected them on Monday afternoon.
We ended up losing 11 candidates because we couldn't get back in touch with all of our candidates over the weekend.
Just think if they had been elected. 11 Labour councillors could not be contacted over a weekend. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the team that you have cobbled together.
Just think if they had been elected. 11 Labour councillors could not be contacted over a weekend. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the team that you have cobbled together.
If the council had supplied the forms originally, it wouldn't matter!!!
Just think if they had been elected. 11 Labour councillors could not be contacted over a weekend. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the team that you have cobbled together.
Indeed.
If around 25% of them failed at the first hurdle and couldn't even get nominated I wonder how many of the others are up to scratch?
Not true. We went to hand 41 sets of forms in on Friday, and were told each candidate was missing two sheets (certificate of authority). Prior to the nomination period, our agent requested 52 sets of papers, but for some reason we were not given the full set for each candidate. That meant we had Friday night, Saturday and Sunday to try and get 82 bits of paper filled in all around the district. As a result, we have lost candidates in Burghfield, Mortimer, Aldermaston, Bucklebury, Chieveley and Hungerford.
What is even more surprising is that all of our forms were validated by officers on Friday, yet when it came to handing them in, two were disqualified. My form was also disqualified, but as it was filled in with an electoral services officer present (who was waiting for my form to take it up stairs), how I managed to fill in the wrong box after asking which one was required is beyond me!!!
We probably should have picked up on the missing paperwork, but as this is the first local election we have contested with a proper election agent, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. Rule number 1: Don't trust anyone.
Not true. We went to hand 41 sets of forms in on Friday, and were told each candidate was missing two sheets (certificate of authority). Prior to the nomination period, our agent requested 52 sets of papers, but for some reason we were not given the full set for each candidate. That meant we had Friday night, Saturday and Sunday to try and get 82 bits of paper filled in all around the district. As a result, we have lost candidates in Burghfield, Mortimer, Aldermaston, Bucklebury, Chieveley and Hungerford.
What is even more surprising is that all of our forms were validated by officers on Friday, yet when it came to handing them in, two were disqualified. My form was also disqualified, but as it was filled in with an electoral services officer present (who was waiting for my form to take it up stairs), how I managed to fill in the wrong box after asking which one was required is beyond me!!!
We probably should have picked up on the missing paperwork, but as this is the first local election we have contested with a proper election agent, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. Rule number 1: Don't trust anyone.
The bad politician's number 1 rule: Blame your mistakes on others.
"We probably should have picked up on the missing paperwork" says it all.
A Lib Dem town council candidate got turned away around 11am, they didn't even put the forms in. We put Adam and Carol in knowing that they would probably be rejected, but we did expect a little leniancy due to the council passing them on Friday, minus the additional two sheets that were filled correctly!!!
What is even more surprising is that all of our forms were validated by officers on Friday, yet when it came to handing them in, two were disqualified. My form was also disqualified, but as it was filled in with an electoral services officer present (who was waiting for my form to take it up stairs), how I managed to fill in the wrong box after asking which one was required is beyond me!!!
Is it that difficult to get a few forms filled in correctly or am I missing something. Are the forms deliberately obtuse ?
Is it that difficult to get a few forms filled in correctly or am I missing something. Are the forms deliberately obtuse ?
No, just that our candidates are all over the district and some were away on holiday and others were just not at home over the weekend. My form for Falkland is slightly different, I was filling it out at five to twelve on Monday and I asked if I needed to fill all of the boxes out. I was told "any one of them will do, you're alright" so I picked box B. If I had filled C and D, I would have been fine, it's just I rushed it and turns out it is just as much my fault.
The 11 forms we couldn't get filled out is solely down to paperwork being witheld from us, and the other two that were refused would have been picked up by checks if we had looked at them over the weekend. The fact is, we were told on Friday that they were acceptable. Why tell us that and change their minds?
As I said previously, lots of lessons to learn for next time.
WBC rule 1 blame our mistakes on the politicians (or potentials) !!
Don't worry Richard I am sure User 23 will enjoy voting for you!! Was it deliberate to stand in his ward?
He's not Speen, he is Northcroft I believe? Speen is a weird shape, and that area to the north of the A4 between Waitrose and the A339 is Northcroft or Victoria.
Not the smartest thing for a wanna-be politician to say, is it?
I don't expect people to trust me though, I want to earn it. Poliics has an awful reputation, and hopefull my colleagues and I can change that, here in West Berkshire at least.
I have to say that I had started to lean towards the Labour candidates but now I'm not so sure. If the Labour candidates can't even manage to get the selection papers in and correctly filled out, what chance with the complexities of local government. Oh well, we'll know next time is not good enough. That's several years away. By your party's failures, you have probably stuck us with the old guard for another seven years. I think you should now hold a public enquiry into the whole matter. Worst of all though, User will now have all the ammunition needed to counteract every point you make about the new administartion when it sits for the first time.
Oh, I'd sack him/her as well.
We probably should have picked up on the missing paperwork, but as this is the first local election we have contested with a proper election agent, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. Rule number 1: Don't trust anyone.
Look, only my form was messed up, and I did that in the presence of a WBC electoral services officer who told me to fill any box because "you'll be alright". On every other form, we filled out all of the options just to be safe, but at a few minutes to twelve I didn't have that option. Carol's form was passed on Friday even though it had a detail missing, as was Adam's which is really worrying as we now know the rule is 18 by nomination day, not by polling day.
There's still no getting away from the fact that we only got half the required paperwork late on Friday. Everyone else got the relevant paperwork when requested, but the forms given to our election agent were incomplete. If someone is new to this, and asks for all of the relevant paperwork, you'd expect that paperwork to be supplied.
We probably should have picked up on the missing paperwork, but as this is the first local election we have contested with a proper election agent, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. Rule number 1: Don't trust anyone.
I think it's just a case of more training and learning lessons. A lot of our candidates are not career politicians, we have joined the party to fight the good fight over the last year or so. It's definately been a steep learning curve for me, and next time I will personally know what to expect.
It was ok for the other party election agents though, they could just waltz straight through to the electoral services department to solve any hiccups whilst everyone else was left in reception!!!
Look, only my form was messed up, and I did that in the presence of a WBC electoral services officer who told me to fill any box because "you'll be alright". On every other form, we filled out all of the options just to be safe, but at a few minutes to twelve I didn't have that option. Carol's form was passed on Friday even though it had a detail missing, as was Adam's which is really worrying as we now know the rule is 18 by nomination day, not by polling day.
There's still no getting away from the fact that we only got half the required paperwork late on Friday. Everyone else got the relevant paperwork when requested, but the forms given to our election agent were incomplete. If someone is new to this, and asks for all of the relevant paperwork, you'd expect that paperwork to be supplied.
I'd expect them to check they've been given the right paperwork, that's a basic part of their job. Did they get paid for this work?
Whilst you're not the Election Agent, as Campaign Manager, the right thing to do would be to resign from this position after such a monumental mess up.
As for not being able to fill out some basic questions on two sides of A4 properly for the Town Council elections and blaming your shortcomings on someone else, this is very poor.
I have to say that I am extremely disappointed after all of Garvey’s bluff and bluster about how well Labour was going to perform locally. Surely it is down to the individual candidates to fill their own forms in and ensure that everything is correct.
Look, only my form was messed up, and I did that in the presence of a WBC electoral services officer who told me to fill any box because "you'll be alright". On every other form, we filled out all of the options just to be safe, but at a few minutes to twelve I didn't have that option. Carol's form was passed on Friday even though it had a detail missing, as was Adam's which is really worrying as we now know the rule is 18 by nomination day, not by polling day.
There's still no getting away from the fact that we only got half the required paperwork late on Friday. Everyone else got the relevant paperwork when requested, but the forms given to our election agent were incomplete. If someone is new to this, and asks for all of the relevant paperwork, you'd expect that paperwork to be supplied.
I sympathise Richard, and I'm sure you are partly victim of possible poor treatment from other departments, but the simple fact of life is that you will meet this sort of thing in power as you would out of it. Your party has blown it here. This form filling could have been something more serious. It also serves to show what a**'oles people can be that you deal with in politics, and why some of us might be sceptical of how much 'good' you can do in office because of them.
I think it's just a case of more training and learning lessons. A lot of our candidates are not career politicians, we have joined the party to fight the good fight over the last year or so. It's definately been a steep learning curve for me, and next time I will personally know what to expect.
It was ok for the other party election agents though, they could just waltz straight through to the electoral services department to solve any hiccups whilst everyone else was left in reception!!!
With respect Richard when you say 'the other party election agents .... could just waltz straight through to the electoral services' that's not entirely the case. I am that election agent for the eight Apolitical candidates and yes we did ask for help and guidance by telephone, by email and in person - and clarification was given it in the nicest possible way from Electoral Services with no hesitation.
With respect Richard when you say 'the other party election agents .... could just waltz straight through to the electoral services' that's not entirely the case. I am that election agent for the eight Apolitical candidates and yes we did ask for help and guidance by telephone, by email and in person - and clarification was given it in the nicest possible way from Electoral Services with no hesitation.
When you collected your forms, what forms were you given?
We weren't sure how many candidates we were going to be supporting, so we requested nomination forms for more wards than we are actually contesting as we had some expressions of interest right through the district. We were told we were able to photocopy them so that we could field as many within each ward as we liked.
There was also the party stuff which is for the party to endorse the candidate and for the candidate to accept the party and use an emblem if the party has one. We Apoliticals have got an emblem but since it's not been publicised we thought we wouldn't bother with that on the ballot paper.
Only the emblem bit needs to be signed by the candidate, not the party endorsement. As far as I understand it (which is not very far!) it was for the party to endorse them rather than the other way on. If the Labour Nominating Officer was in the council offices on Monday they could have endorsed the candidates there and then.
I'm not being critical because I'm just saying that we don't know what the procedure is either, so we ask - a lot! That said I'm astonished that the Labour party don't have resources to help with this stuff.
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