Early signs are that IWV vote will count

Ballot officers delivered their ballot boxes to the Greffe after voting closed at 8pm.

They have been stored overnight and the count will start this morning.

Lead referendum officer Liz Dene said last night: ‘It has been a busy day. It has been very good-humoured and people have been very patient waiting while we verify stuff.’

The final count for the Vale was 2,201 out of 5,402 on the electoral roll. That means 40.74% turned up in person to vote.

In the Castel, ballot officer Kelvin Hudson said there were 1,806 out of 4,707, which equates to 38.37%.

Torteval had a turnout of 292 and St Saviour’s had 621.

Deputy returning officers for St Peter’s and Forest said they had in the region of 540 and 420 voters respectively.

That would lead to an indicative sum of 1,873 for the West, which would equate to approximately 45%.

The district’s ballot officer, Mark Dunster, was the last to deliver the ballot boxes, just before 9pm.

‘I was at St Peter’s and the voter turnout seemed to be about on par with our general election level of turnout,’ he said.

‘But that is only us. Quite how that tallies with the rest of the island, goodness only knows.’

For St Andrew’s, deputy officer Godfray Guilbert said they had a 41% turnout.

‘520 was our magic number and we had just a few more than that,’ he said.

For St Martin’s, ballot officer Ben Gregg said around 1,100 voted.

St Sampson’s ballot officer Paul Le Pelley said his ‘rough estimate’ was that there had been 600 at the church schools.

He did not have the final figures for either of the polling stations.

‘Right at the very end I had people challenging that they had been taken off the register and 8pm has been and gone,’ he said afterwards.

He said that, earlier in the day, the douzaine room polling station had been getting twice as many voters as the other.

That would give an overall estimated figure of around 1,800 for the district.

St Peter Port North officer Barry Cash said they had between 1,400-1,500, but the St Peter Port South officer could not be reached for a figure.

If the referendum result is to be binding, 12,746 people needed to vote.

Final figures from Vale, Castel, Torteval and St Saviour’s give a total of 4,920.

Indicative figures for the other districts, excluding St Peter Port South, totalled around 5,840.

If those latter figures were achieved, then only 1,984 are needed from St Peter Port South and postal voters to reach 40% turnout.

In the 2016 general election, 2,068 out of 3,267 people on the roll voted. The number on the register island-wide had increased by 1,355 since to 31,685.

A total of 2,906 people had signed up for postal votes.

Votes

. Castel – 1,806 (actual)

. Vale – 2,201 (actual)

. St Peter Port South – unknown

. St Peter Port North – 1,500 (estimate)

. St Sampson’s – 1,800 (estimate)

. South-East – 1,630 (estimate)

. West – 1,873 (estimate)

. Figures do not include postal votes

. Total required: 12,746