On November 15 the whole of England and Wales (apart from London) will be voting in the forst elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). There has been specualtion that the turnout will be pitiful, perhaps below 20%. Will you be voting?

 

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/police...-commissioners/

 

The only literature I have had so far - from the Tory (with the wonderfully appropriate name of Nick King) and the independent candidate (a former Sussex police officer standing in Dorset) - contain vague platitudes like working to reduce crime. Somehow I think a candidate pledging to increase crime would struggle ot be elected :lol: Besides, crime has been falling since 1995. What they don't say is whether they will do anyting to accelerate the fall, let alone what they would do.

 

There had been a worry that a load of cranks would stand in the hope they might get elected on a low turnout. Thankfully that now seems unlikely although there are UKIP and BNP candidates.

The Labour candidate for Sheffield came to speak to our society and spoke well, if I actually remember to vote I'd have voted for him anyway.

I know this is happening, and I likely will vote seeing as it's my first opportunity to vote in anything (after a whole year of being eligible!!!) but from what I've read of the candidates (their online profile) there seems to be little difference besides a few of them standing behind a political party. I'll probably just vote for one of the independents and hope they don't fuck up the police force too much.

 

I hope some people are more informed than me on this.

I know this is happening, and I likely will vote seeing as it's my first opportunity to vote in anything (after a whole year of being eligible!!!) but from what I've read of the candidates (their online profile) there seems to be little difference besides a few of them standing behind a political party. I'll probably just vote for one of the independents and hope they don't fuck up the police force too much.

 

I hope some people are more informed than me on this.

You know the elections are happening. That already makes you better informed than a large number of people.

A poll card got sent to all the uni students in my halls and the polling station is apparently in the common room. They've made things quite easy for us. :lol:

Being in good ol' Northern Ireland, we don't have elections for the Police & Crime Commissioner, giving that the devolved assembly has a Minister of Justice, Mr Beige. (or David Ford, as he's more commonly known).

I know this is happening as it's been advertised every now and again on tv... however I have no idea who is running in my area (or even if this works separately by area or not for that matter!) and I've received nothing at all from any of the candidates to attempt to persuade me to vote for them.

It works by police force, so usually by county with exceptions such as Devon & Cornwall which have a single force and, therefore, a single commissioner.

It works by police force, so usually by county with exceptions such as Devon & Cornwall which have a single force and, therefore, a single commissioner.

 

That specific example led to me receiving two polling cards for the same commisssioner, one for my uni address and one for home (despite them being in different counties). Not that it makes any difference to me.

 

It's rather a large base for votes for each so hopefully that should go against the low turnout, but conversely there seem to be a LARGE number of candidates, presumably because of the same region. I've only looked at Devon & Cornwall though so others might be different.

That specific example led to me receiving two polling cards for the same commisssioner, one for my uni address and one for home (despite them being in different counties). Not that it makes any difference to me.

 

It's rather a large base for votes for each so hopefully that should go against the low turnout, but conversely there seem to be a LARGE number of candidates, presumably because of the same region. I've only looked at Devon & Cornwall though so others might be different.

As a student you can choose where to vote but you cannot vote in both.

 

There are four candidates in Dorset (the three main parties plus an independent). I think that's the case in most places. However, Devon and Cornwall used to elect a lot of independents (plus Mebyon Kernow in Cornwall) to local councils so I'm not surprised there are more candidates there.

One further point of note - the counts are generally taking place on Friday. The only excpeption is Wiltshire which will be counting on Thursday night. Therefore, most of the results will be from late Friday morning onwards although some don't even start counting until midday or later.

And it will have the lowest turn out ever.

Can someone explain to me why the candidates are for a specific party? I didn't think the parties had anything to do with this? :wacko:

The size of the electoral areas make it very difficult for a non-party candidate to get any sort of organisation together. For general elections and European elections all candidates can have a mailshot delivered for free. That isn't the case for these elections which makes it even more difficult for a non-party candidate to communicate with the whole of the electorate.

I think there'll be a lot of apathy over this. My old mum asked me when I was up at her place last weekend "What are these police commisioner elections in November about? I couldn't care less who it is and won't be going out to vote in the cold" I think that attitude may be typical of a lot of people.

I know it's happening but I think it's a waste of time and I've heard absolutely nothing. I've been told Paddy Tipping is standing here though, so I may pop down to vote for an independent candidate.

The BBC Question Time audience have just been asked who intends to vote next week. Only about half - of an audience surely far more politically motivated than the general public - said they would. That really is a sign that the turnout will be dismal. I wonder what the Tories who say strike ballots should only be valid if 50% of members vote in favour of strike action will have to say about that.

Judging by various tweets from around the country the turnout may be even more pitiful than expected. I voted this morning and actually met another voter on their way out. However, we also have a council byelection so the turnout in my ward may be slightly less awful than in most places.

There are reports that there were some polling stations where nobody voted at all. So two people had to remain on duty at each of those polling stations for the full 15 hours with nothing to do.

Well done Prezza, not quite sure how you managed to screw up HUMBERSIDE of all places.