Author Archives: Anna Macnaughton

Blog: Getting the story at Hallam Polling Station

Posted on by Anna Macnaughton

I was just settling down to watch the count for the night in the newsroom when I saw a tweet from a fellow student in Sheffield saying she’d been waiting in line for two hours to vote – thinking it could be a good short story for tomorrow’s paper I set off to find the polling station.

By the time I got there at about 9pm it was pouring with rain. I met countless students on my way, some of whom had waited for hours and voted, some who had just given up and left. They were angry, and cold.

When I got there a queue stretched around the side of the building, there were around three hundred people waiting. I spoke to some of them; those at the front had been waiting up to two and a half hours.

Assuring the queue that I wasn’t trying to vote, I managed to get into the polling station. All along the queue I had heard the same story; students and residents had been separated by the Presiding Officer, and residents were being allowed to vote first.

As I got into the corridor this was confirmed; residents along one side and students the other. Both groups were angry, and wanted me to ask what was happening – whether they’d be able to vote if they had to wait beyond 10pm.

I got further in, where the presiding officer Andy Globe was being addressed by a group of angry people. He didn’t seem too perplexed, repeated that there was nothing he could do. He said if he could he would keep it open for hours, but by law he couldn’t, said they’d made mistakes but there was nothing he could do about it.

I left then, to get the rest of my team; Oli Hughes, Colin Shek, Alex Peristianis and more equipment. When we got back at about 21:55 the queue was much smaller, and as we were there the officers started to get as many people in as possible.

There were two police officers there by then, who didn’t seem to quite know what to do. People were told that if they were inside at 22:00 they would be allowed to vote, but at 22:02 voting stopped – and hardly anyone left. I spoke to the four students who had been the last voters, who were angry that they so easily could not have.

The small entry room was packed with people who would not leave. We spoke to a few angry people – and inside they argued, and began to chant, “we want to vote!” I called my editor, and went inside the police were on their radios, people were angry and refusing to leave.

Sheffield University Union officers had turned up to represent the students, and the president Paul Tobin decided to go to Ponds Forge to try to contest the vote. Oli Hughes and I followed, but Tobin was turned away and told to follow it later.

We then headed back to the polling station at about 23:30 after rumours that Nick Clegg was on his way to apologise – to find it empty, so got a taxi back to the newsroom to start filing our copy, and respond to the various news organizations trying to get information from us.

Voters turned away from polling station

Posted on by Anna Macnaughton

A hundred voters were turned away in Sheffield Hallam last night after waiting in the rain for hours.

Ranmoor Parish centre had only four staff present, and could not cope with the numbers of people who turned up to vote.

Just before ten o’clock deputy returning officer Lee Adams crammed the remainder of the queue into the polling station, but at two minutes past it was announced that voting had finished.

Angry voters refused to leave, and chanted “we want to vote.”

The presiding officer and the police attempted to calm people down, and they eventually all left at 11.15pm.
Talking to angry voters Presiding Officer Andy Globe said: “I’d be prepared to stay open until two or three o’clock but I can’t, it’s against the law.”

The presiding officer split voters into two queues; and Sheffield University Union President Paul Tobin said: “There are two different queues for students and residents. Its an affront to democracy and treats students as second class citizens.”

Dr Joanne Beahan queued for an hour. She said: “The excuse that they had an unprecendented number of people isn’t adequate.

“And also there were separate queues for students and residents – student have an equal right to vote.”
Many students gave up and left after waiting for a long time, and on the pavement on the approach to the polling station were torn polling cards.

Student Chris Potter was the last person to vote. He waited an hour and a half, and said: “It was so badly organised – there were two rooms in the back that they could have used.”

A Broomhill polling station under a mile away had no one waiting outside. Paul Tobin went to Ponds Forge to complain and challenge the vote, but was turned away.