The Silent Election Count Rutland County Council
The returning officer for Rutland may have achieved the
quietest election count in history.
Victoria Hall was plastered inside and out with notices
like the one show above.
Along with photography signs.
Supporters were even banned from taking snaps of the
successfully elected candidates.
A corner was set aside for the council photographer
to take images for the council badge and website.
Declarations were made in fearful silence of the
returning officer and their were no congratulatory
applause a thing of the past here in Rutland.
At the start of the count the returning officer
sounded a pink horn like the one shown above.
She threatened to use it again if silence throughout
was not maintained.
During the proceeding I started a brief conversation
with a local police officer and was spotted by
the returning officer who promptly abandoned
her responsibilities to order us both outside of we
wished to continue our conversation.
As you can imagine the officer was not pleased.
Who does she think she is?
I did some research and found a lawful way
in which I could remain in full the entire count
As a postal vote agent I was entitled to be present
each time the ballot box storing those votes
was opened and closed I and other agents could
be present. The returning officer agreed and said
she did not want to fall out with me I thanked
her and promptly informed the other postal
vote agents.
To be fair to the returning officer she had
not been as awful as expected, her staff
mainly Debbie Mogg and Diane Baker
were very unhelpfully confrontational to many people
throughout the election process.
One of them even hid Martinsthorpe Postal Votes
in a unused envelope. If the returning officer
had decided to publicly check the envelopes
votes would have been lost.
During the verification a number of Martinsthorpe
votes were found in the wrong envelopes and
four had no header slip attached.
Throughout the period of monitoring the
postal vote process Diane Baker was often
seen with her back to us fiddling with ballot
papers ready to be placed in the ballot
box and other agents would ask what is
she doing?
It is my understanding the Libdems
are to raise a formal complaint regarding
the lack of co-operation from the election
team.
There was no need for the constant aggression
when simple questions were asked.
Diane Baker and Debbie Mogg were very
clearly unwilling to accept basic scrutiny
from the outset of this election and caused
plenty of unnecessary friction.
Perhaps they were doing something wrong?
The returning officer for Rutland may have achieved the
quietest election count in history.
Victoria Hall was plastered inside and out with notices
like the one show above.
Along with photography signs.
Supporters were even banned from taking snaps of the
successfully elected candidates.
A corner was set aside for the council photographer
to take images for the council badge and website.
Declarations were made in fearful silence of the
returning officer and their were no congratulatory
applause a thing of the past here in Rutland.
At the start of the count the returning officer
sounded a pink horn like the one shown above.
She threatened to use it again if silence throughout
was not maintained.
During the proceeding I started a brief conversation
with a local police officer and was spotted by
the returning officer who promptly abandoned
her responsibilities to order us both outside of we
wished to continue our conversation.
As you can imagine the officer was not pleased.
Who does she think she is?
I did some research and found a lawful way
in which I could remain in full the entire count
As a postal vote agent I was entitled to be present
each time the ballot box storing those votes
was opened and closed I and other agents could
be present. The returning officer agreed and said
she did not want to fall out with me I thanked
her and promptly informed the other postal
vote agents.
To be fair to the returning officer she had
not been as awful as expected, her staff
mainly Debbie Mogg and Diane Baker
were very unhelpfully confrontational to many people
throughout the election process.
One of them even hid Martinsthorpe Postal Votes
in a unused envelope. If the returning officer
had decided to publicly check the envelopes
votes would have been lost.
During the verification a number of Martinsthorpe
votes were found in the wrong envelopes and
four had no header slip attached.
Throughout the period of monitoring the
postal vote process Diane Baker was often
seen with her back to us fiddling with ballot
papers ready to be placed in the ballot
box and other agents would ask what is
she doing?
It is my understanding the Libdems
are to raise a formal complaint regarding
the lack of co-operation from the election
team.
There was no need for the constant aggression
when simple questions were asked.
Diane Baker and Debbie Mogg were very
clearly unwilling to accept basic scrutiny
from the outset of this election and caused
plenty of unnecessary friction.
Perhaps they were doing something wrong?
