Uk voting system needs to change

So a few suggestions regarding UK voting system needs to change

1. Online voting, the current system is outdated , paper snd pencil I mean seriously in this day in age of AI, VR headsets, delivery apps, drones, online streaming platforms yet can't have a system were people csn vote online I mean if reality tv like Britain's got talent (or no talent) or I am celebrity get me out of here or dancing on ice can do it so can voting online for political psrtied
parties

2. Voting on a Thursday were result are reveal on a Friday aka dead shows when nothing will get done as most if not all people are getting ready for the weekend by getting ready to get drunk I mean utter pointless as by weekend offices are closed down for the day and gor tge week so would prefer to have it done say vote on Monday thrn result by Tuesday or something like that

3, overnight election results I mean why stsy up during the stupid hours ftom 10pm til 6am or 7am before result are reveal I mean people need sleep especially those older people and efrn broadcasters I mesn make more sense to count votes say collect sll ballot boxes and then people can start counting say next day around 6am/7am

4. Location of counting I see on tv that community hallss/large sports centers/exhibition halls/events halls are used I mean why not use empty office space or use office space at parties HQ or any office people can use I mean not needed thrn u see volunteers running with boxes I mean I know time moves on life moves on but just walk whars rushing about business

Overall the whole system is outdated and need overhaul

Reply 1

Talkative Toad

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

The only way I thing that believe at the electoral system should change is that there should be proportional representation instead of FPTP, that or make it so that a government can’t become the majority if they don’t get at least 50% of the vote.

I liked voting online for recent French elections but it was more hassle than anything (I was desperate to vote however and online was my only feasible option).

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 2

StriderHort

Nah, it's fine, You've made all these flimsy presumptive objections before.

Online voting is not secure and not available to all which is a dealbreaker, comparing it to reality show voting is silly.

Thursday is fine, Friday is fine, the UK has a largely moved to a 7 day week in many cases, including offices. Most peoples lives simply don't revolve around alcohol and the weekend like you imply.

People seem to want their results in the morning, and at least during the night the public aren't clamouring all over the place. It's not like you're volunteering to help or have any place speaking for those who do.

The locations are appropriate to the task, they are community buildings being funded and used for a community purpose. This 'empty office space' you speak of will be owned by people, it's not a public resource for you to annex and use for free, and the idea of letting the votes be counted in the parties own private properly is hilarious, you don't see the huge conflict of interest there?

Reply 3

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

These are all pretty silly suggestions tbh.

There’s a good reason the vote counting is conducted at large neutral venues rather than at party HQ’s.

Reply 4

martin7

Original post by Lifesucks101

Reality TV is just for fun, and ultimately the result is of a little consequence and no one really cares what it is. In contrast, choosing your representative in parliament and ultimately who gets to runs the country is of rather more importance. Making sure that the voting is one person one vote -- and that nothing goes wrong on the day -- is much more important.

Yes, the pencil and paper system looks old-fashioned in the 2020s; but on the flip side, it's tried and tested, and clearly works well.

When you look at how well the banks run their online systems -- and how, despite their resources and the commercial risks and the reputional damage when things go wrong, they still have systems that fail -- how much trust can you have that an online electoral system would work better than people marking a cross in a box on a piece of paper?

2. Voting on a Thursday were result are reveal on a Friday aka dead shows when nothing will get done as most if not all people are getting ready for the weekend by getting ready to get drunk I mean utter pointless as by weekend offices are closed down for the day and gor tge week so would prefer to have it done say vote on Monday thrn result by Tuesday or something like that

People are spending all day Friday getting ready to get drunk?

I don't know why voting is on Thursdays in the UK (in some European countries voting is held on Sundays). As far as I know it's always been that way, and to change would no doubt cause confusion.

In practice it's normally pretty clear what the result is going to be before the financial markets open on Friday, and that might be a factor. (The financial markets hate uncertainty.)

3, overnight election results I mean why stsy up during the stupid hours ftom 10pm til 6am or 7am before result are reveal I mean people need sleep especially those older people and efrn broadcasters I mesn make more sense to count votes say collect sll ballot boxes and then people can start counting say next day around 6am/7am

There are advantages in getting the count started as soon as possible after voting finishes. If a ballot box is transported straight to the count so its seals can be checked and counting started straight away, there's much less chance for any possibility (or even suggestion) of tampering or other dodgy dealings.

The people doing the counting know what to expect and will be ready for counting to go to the early hours.

4. Location of counting I see on tv that community hallss/large sports centers/exhibition halls/events halls are used I mean why not use empty office space or use office space at parties HQ or any office people can use I mean not needed thrn u see volunteers running with boxes I mean I know time moves on life moves on but just walk whars rushing about business

Counting gets done in big empty spaces where the count can be monitored by the officials, and by the candidates' representatives. If there are no pillars or partitions, then any malpractice can be easily seen (and the easy sightlines are a deterrent in any case).

These large venues tend to be owned by the local authorities responsible for organising the count, so the costs of using are either zero or insignificant.

Most volunteers are not "running with boxes". This only happens in the small handful of constituencies who are deliberately trying to have an early declaration of results. You only see this happening because it makes good TV and there's little else for the TV reporters to be talking about so early on.

Overall the whole system is outdated and need overhaul

Overall the existing setup works just fine and has served us well for many years. Change purely for the sake of change is just unnecessary.

Reply 5

klafow

Original post by Lifesucks101

So a few suggestions regarding UK voting system needs to change
1. Online voting, the current system is outdated , paper snd pencil I mean seriously in this day in age of AI, VR headsets, delivery apps, drones, online streaming platforms yet can't have a system were people csn vote online I mean if reality tv like Britain's got talent (or no talent) or I am celebrity get me out of here or dancing on ice can do it so can voting online for political psrtied
parties
2. Voting on a Thursday were result are reveal on a Friday aka dead shows when nothing will get done as most if not all people are getting ready for the weekend by getting ready to get drunk I mean utter pointless as by weekend offices are closed down for the day and gor tge week so would prefer to have it done say vote on Monday thrn result by Tuesday or something like that
3, overnight election results I mean why stsy up during the stupid hours ftom 10pm til 6am or 7am before result are reveal I mean people need sleep especially those older people and efrn broadcasters I mesn make more sense to count votes say collect sll ballot boxes and then people can start counting say next day around 6am/7am
4. Location of counting I see on tv that community hallss/large sports centers/exhibition halls/events halls are used I mean why not use empty office space or use office space at parties HQ or any office people can use I mean not needed thrn u see volunteers running with boxes I mean I know time moves on life moves on but just walk whars rushing about business
Overall the whole system is outdated and need overhaul

i feel like there's less chance of votes being tampered with if they're done on paper compared to online. like what if someone hacked into the system and changed the votes. it's better not to have that risk at all

i think you're overestimating the amount of people who are 'ready to get drunk' on friday. and even if that was the case, what difference does it make to anything?

someone could tamper with the votes overnight its better to get things over and done with by counting them immediately after the polling stations close