Voter eyewitness: 'polling station shambles'
Updated on 07 May 2010
Sheffield University students Alex Keen and Kate Baldwin say that "discrimination" and false polling card claims kept them from voting in the election.
At 10pm, the situation at the polling station was a "shambles".
The presiding officer, Mr Andy Globe, hours before had started to split and "discriminate" between those queuing at the polling station.
While at first this was based upon register number, as the evening progressed, this separation changed to discriminating between students and “residents”; the residents having access to a fast track queue to vote whilst students were held back.
When a student, Ben Pearce, challenged Mr Globe, he at first said that he was prioritising adults with small children, and disabled or the elderly.
However, the students said there was no evidence of such discrimination, of which would have been accepted and supported by many students.
Later he appeared to change his argument claiming that "students don’t bring their polling cards" - although the students told Channel 4 News that a vast majority did have their documents. It was also discriminative, the student said, since there is no legal requirement to bring the polling card in order to vote. The discrimination was unjust the students added.
As both students, and also residents who had refused to separate into a different queue on principle in support of students, continued to question Mr Globe he made statements to the nature of "students only vote because their union registered them" and claimed that "students haven’t turned up in the past" which they said they fond offensive and irrelevant to the right and equal opportunity to vote.
Some students were waiting outside in the rain for over two hours, watching whilst older local residents were ushered in and out within 20 minutes.
There was a strong feeling of disgust and anger, according to the students. The presiding officer had said people would be let into the building - but when the doors closed at 10pm people were promptly turned away. At this point the police were called as a sit-in was attempted. The students eventually removed.
Overall we are disgusted with the conduct and organisation at the polling station which resulted in what we feel was blatant discrimination.
Lee Adams, the deputy returning officer, accused students of contributing to the situation by not bring their polling cards. This is a gross assumption which attempts to blame students and condone their conduct in separating us at the polling station.
