Well, the election count came and went without issue, apart from a small kerfuffle at the start when it transpired that some of the BNP counting agents were not on the list so they weren’t coming in. (We had three Constables as bouncers so the argument was short lived).

To recap the process, we handle the ballots three times. The first time, we empty a specific ballot box and count how many ballots are in it. As part of the process, we bundle them into fifties but don’t pay attention to the votes at this stage. Our particular group of five counters did four boxes between us and we got the count spot on for three of them. (We were one ballot short for the other but it showed up in the recount).

The counted ballot papers are all taken away and stored together until such time as all of the ballot boxes for the electoral Ward have been emptied.

Stage two is the sorting. We are all given heaps of ballots and we start matching them to candidates. There were five candidates (for one vacancy) so we created five heaps each. At regular intervals, the assistant polling officers would come round and thin out the heaps, placing them into a box for the named candidate.

The third stage is to actually count how many votes the candidates received. There were more than 7000 votes cast but we were given lower score candidates to count, whilst the rest of the table hammered away counting the big boys.

During the sorting stage the “spoilt” papers are found and assessed. (Spoilt pertains to an incomplete or incorrect vote of any kind.) Any dubious ones are queried with the returning officer who will generally have a pragmatic view. (Voters are supposed to put a cross to the extreme right of the ballot paper but ticks, circles around the numbers or even underlining the name are generally accepted provided it is clear that it only relates to one candidate). A couple of ballots I saw were blank, one had two crosses on (there was only one vacancy) and some offered opinions on the candidates. I saw the word pervert a couple of times, racist scum (and similar variants) a couple of times and one even had an essay expressing the unsuitability of all the candidates, suggesting that Leeds City Council needed to sort out the NHS (the concept of local versus national appearing to pass that particular non-voter by).

By the end of stage two, it was obvious that Robert Finnigan had won, his was the only box where ballot papers could be seen peeking over the top. In the end, he got 3,665 votes, 51% of the vote and over 2,200 votes more than the second place candidate (BNP). However, as the turnout was just slightly over 40%, he was actually elected by only 21% of those eligible to vote. (The actual figures are here). He polled 3,860 votes four years ago when there were fourteen candidates for three posts

It seems likely that his eligibility to stand as a Councillor will be contested by others though and if it his upheld the election will be declared void.

Meanwhile on the tables across the hall, Judith Elliott was re-elected for Morley South with 300 more votes than last time and with the BNP also taking votes from Labour.

I’m a counting assistant today for the City Council Elections. I get to go to the count and even get paid for it, but have to do a fair bit of work in the process.

My own Ward where I live is Morley South but I’ll be counting for Morley North. There is likely to be some fireworks at this as assuming the incumbent Robert Finnigan wins again, the BNP have implied that they will be issuing an election challenge based on him possibly not being entitled to stand. (He gave his address as the MBI party office which is the flat of another Councillor and claims he works in Morley whereas he is thought to live in Batley and until recently worked in Cleckheaton). I imagine that he will be technically in the clear as it would have been straight-forward enough for him to get a casual job in Morley between the nomination date and yesterday, the only qualification required apparently. However, it is hardly whiter than white and he is coming to be regarded as damaged goods in some quarters previously supportive of him.

The downside is that if people don’t want to vote for independents (or neo-independents) then they may well vote for the BNP instead. The MBIs have been banging on about this in their leaflets (& online) to the point of tedium and whilst it is certainly true to an extent, the shrill tone smacks of desperation.

I don’t see a resurgence in Labour locally though, they haven’t even bothered putting up any “vote Labour” signs in the Labour Buildings in Town.