"This Council believes that the interests of democracy and the country are best served if the result of a general election is confirmed as soon as possible after the close of polls.
It therefore strongly supports general election counts being conducted on election night immediately following the close of polls, and requests that the returning officer takes note of this opinion."
As the only Conservative on the Council, it was very pleasing to have unanimous support for my motion - certainly the first Conservative motion to be passed at the City Council for a large number of years!
In the debate, it was pointed out that at the last general election Cambridge did not declare until 5am, and felt that in order to reduce the long hours, much more could be done to improve organisation and get the result earlier.
I will again be writing to the returning officer, the Chief Executive of the City Council, to ask if we can confirm a Thursday night count - if so, it will be interesting to see if we can be declaring at a more sensible time - I would suggest 2am at the latest...
1 comment:
In an election Cambridge should be one of the first to declare. How wide is Cambridge across - 5 miles?. Every ballet box should be in the Guildhall by 10.30pm assuming a 10pm close of poll. I once worked for one of the biggest (geographically) local authorities in the Country - and we would always declare by 3.30am despite some ballot boxes coming in from over 30 miles away.
There is clearly something wrong at Cambridge if they are declaring so late - inefficiency perhaps? or fiddling - wouldn't surprise me in a modern day 'Rotten Borough' like CCC!
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