All straight-forward at polling stations, but quiet

The predominance of postal ballots, combined with four days of polling stations being open, led to only a smooth trickle of people rather than the queues normally witnessed on election day.

The count in the historic first island-wide election of deputies gets under way at Beau Sejour at 9am with a result expected by late evening, although that will depend on how well the counting machine works and how many unclear or spoilt papers there are.

People dropping off postal votes dominated the activity at polling stations yesterday, rather than those going to the booths to cast their vote in person.

It was a slightly busier morning at the St Peter Port polling station than on Tuesday, when parish stations opened.

Polling station officer Danielle Sebire said people had been trickling through the doors and by 10.15am they had 40 people cast their votes.

‘A good amount of people have been dropping off their postal votes, but there have been some slower periods,’ she said.

Over the course of Tuesday, about 180 people entered a voting booth at the St Peter Port constables’ office to fill out the ballot.

‘There’s so much choice in this election so opting for a postal vote means they can sit at home and take their time with no pressure,’ she said.

‘Some people have also been talking to their partners about who to vote for, I’ve been told.’

Generally there had been no problems, and the whole vote had run smoothly.

Any issues were quickly sorted with the help of the election team when they arose.

Voters were also given cupcakes after voting.

George and Judy Helpe took their time to fill out their ballot forms at the polling station.

‘This year is very different, but we’ve always come in to the polling station to vote,’ Mr Helpe said.

‘And it’s a nice incentive to vote with a cupcake, although we weren’t expecting it.’

William Erskine was not far behind them and said island-wide voting was an exciting change.

‘It means you’re not stuck with people that other parishes voted for, which I think makes the States a bit more representative of what the population wants,’ he said.

‘It will be interesting to see what result comes out on Thursday.’

Mr Erskine used all 38 votes, in the hope it would keep out some of those that he really would not like to see in the States.

In St Martin’s, polling station officer Ben Gregg said it had been very quiet.

‘246 people came in to vote on Tuesday, and at 11am [yesterday] we’ve had 20 people,’ he said.

‘It appears lots of people have opted for the postal votes, presumably because of the number of candidates – it’ll be easier to do it at home.’

He said without a doubt, previous general elections had been much busier.

Polling station volunteer Graham Smale agreed, saying usually there was a constant stream of people waiting to vote, and sometimes there would be queues outside the building.

‘We’ve got quite a big space here so we can fit 10 booths, but only at one point on Tuesday did we have every booth full, and even then there was no-one waiting for one,’ he said.

‘It’s very different, but lots are bringing their postal votes in because I think some people still like the experience of coming to the polling station for the election.’

There are 119 candidates running for 38 seats.

One, Rick Lowe, has withdrawn due to ill health.

Once the count is over, the central returning officer will first read all the names in alphabetical order and the votes they have received, the total number of votes cast, turnout and numbers of blank or spoilt papers before announcing who has been elected in descending order.

Any candidate who has been unsuccessful within a 2% margin can call for a recount.

That request has to be made within 24 hours of the result being declared.