Britons locked out as country’s Parliament is ‘hung’
HUNDREDS of UK residents could take legal action after failing to register their vote for the 2010 General Election.
Electorates from parts of London, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and Surrey were unable to cast their vote as council officials from polling stations in various regions failed to cope with the highest voting turnout in 30 years.
An enquiry by the Electoral Commission in several of the country's biggest cities has been launched to determine the reasons why voters were turned away or locked out of polling stations whilst trying to carry out their democratic right.
Police were called to deal with a numerous disturbances at a number of polling locations where huge queues of people looking to beat the voting deadline had formed. The law states that doors must close at 2200 BST and no ballot papers can be issued at that time, but it appears that some locations took different measures to others to ensure that as many people as possible were allowed to cast their vote.
Anyone who has a ballot paper in their hands by the deadline must legally be allowed to complete their vote, but where as in some locations voters were invited into the building as the cut off time approached, others were told that they would not have the opportunity to vote for the countries next leader.
After hearing developing reports through Thursday night that some voters had been 'refused' the opportunity to make their choice, the Electoral Commission announced that the situation was 'clearly not acceptable' and on Friday morning stated that it would be carrying out a through review of what occurred.
Voters interviewed about the situation told news outlets that they were 'fuming' and 'very unhappy' about being turned away.
Incidents ranged from a sit-in in Hackney by angry would-be voters, to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg having to offer his apologies to frustrated voters at a polling station at his constituency in Ranmoor after they queued for more than three hours. At a post in Liverpool, voters were left waiting when one polling station ran out of ballot papers.
Politicians for each party had their say on the issue over the weekend. A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he was 'very concerned' about the reports of people being turned away and 'would support a through investigation into them.' Conservative leader David Cameron, whose party won the most seats and votes, thank officials for their efforts but said that 'the new government should make sure their first task was to get to the bottom of what happened and to make sure it never happens again'.
Liberal Democrat party head Nick Clegg said that he 'shared the bitter dismay' of those who were unable to vote and commented: "This should never happen again in our democracy"
One official in Sheffield who had to deal with long queues in his polling station admitted that he and his staff were 'caught out' by the large numbers of voters who turned up at peak times. His thoughts were echoed by many council workers who agreed that reforms should be made in the way that British people cast their votes.
Whatever the outcome of the Electoral Commissions' inquiry, people who were unable to vote could begin legal challenges against the results in their constituency, and although the legal fees for taking a case to court could be as large as £5,000, if a ruling took placer in the voters favor they would receive their money back on top of a compensation payout.
Human Rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC told the BBC that those denied voting privileges have 'the right to sue'. Whilst civil liberties group Liberty is asking anyone who was not able to cast their vote to contact their organization for information on what steps to take next.
An enquiry by the Electoral Commission in several of the country's biggest cities has been launched to determine the reasons why voters were turned away or locked out of polling stations whilst trying to carry out their democratic right.
Police were called to deal with a numerous disturbances at a number of polling locations where huge queues of people looking to beat the voting deadline had formed. The law states that doors must close at 2200 BST and no ballot papers can be issued at that time, but it appears that some locations took different measures to others to ensure that as many people as possible were allowed to cast their vote.
Anyone who has a ballot paper in their hands by the deadline must legally be allowed to complete their vote, but where as in some locations voters were invited into the building as the cut off time approached, others were told that they would not have the opportunity to vote for the countries next leader.
After hearing developing reports through Thursday night that some voters had been 'refused' the opportunity to make their choice, the Electoral Commission announced that the situation was 'clearly not acceptable' and on Friday morning stated that it would be carrying out a through review of what occurred.
Voters interviewed about the situation told news outlets that they were 'fuming' and 'very unhappy' about being turned away.
Incidents ranged from a sit-in in Hackney by angry would-be voters, to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg having to offer his apologies to frustrated voters at a polling station at his constituency in Ranmoor after they queued for more than three hours. At a post in Liverpool, voters were left waiting when one polling station ran out of ballot papers.
Politicians for each party had their say on the issue over the weekend. A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he was 'very concerned' about the reports of people being turned away and 'would support a through investigation into them.' Conservative leader David Cameron, whose party won the most seats and votes, thank officials for their efforts but said that 'the new government should make sure their first task was to get to the bottom of what happened and to make sure it never happens again'.
Liberal Democrat party head Nick Clegg said that he 'shared the bitter dismay' of those who were unable to vote and commented: "This should never happen again in our democracy"
One official in Sheffield who had to deal with long queues in his polling station admitted that he and his staff were 'caught out' by the large numbers of voters who turned up at peak times. His thoughts were echoed by many council workers who agreed that reforms should be made in the way that British people cast their votes.
Whatever the outcome of the Electoral Commissions' inquiry, people who were unable to vote could begin legal challenges against the results in their constituency, and although the legal fees for taking a case to court could be as large as £5,000, if a ruling took placer in the voters favor they would receive their money back on top of a compensation payout.
Human Rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC told the BBC that those denied voting privileges have 'the right to sue'. Whilst civil liberties group Liberty is asking anyone who was not able to cast their vote to contact their organization for information on what steps to take next.