Those who wanted to beat the queues in today’s official election took to the polls yesterday and Sunday to get ahead.
Les Maingys was one of three super stations which was open for pre-voting.
‘We have volunteers here from 7.30am for an 8am open and we’re open all day until 8pm,’ said polling station officer Chris Oliver.
‘Then we go through the process of sealing up the ballot boxes. They’re collected and signed for and then we’re away by 8.30pm. We keep a four-eyes policy on everything with people, so everyone sees somebody else sees what anybody else is doing. We’ve been doing things like helping voters with disabilities, and there’s been a couple of people with visual impairments who we have helped too. There’s ways we can do that which are approved and properly scrutinised.’
Votes can be cast between 8am and 8pm today at thefollowing locations:
Beau Sejour (Dave Ferguson Hall)
Les Maingys Activity Centre
Styx Community Centre
Castel Douzaine Room
St Martin's Parish Hall
St Peter Port Constables
St Andrew's Douzaine Room
St Sampson’s Community Hall
He said that at one point all 12 booths were full. It was busier before work and during lunchtime, but steady throughout the day, and he expected the same after work.
Voter Cheryl Sims said that going through the candidates’ manifestos was exasperating and tedious and she did not know how people had the time.
She had colour-coded post-it notes covering her manifesto book to help with her decision, and voted for 33 candidates.
‘I’m retired and I still couldn’t find the time really,’ she said.
‘Social media has affected my decision. I’ve gone for quite a lot of women this year because I think they’re intelligent businesswomen and will bring a lot to the table. I’ve also gone for some of the younger candidates, because experience needs to be spread across all age groups.’
Meg White said that it was a different experience having to shade in the circle, rather than crossing or ticking a box.
She had been narrowing down her candidates for the last three days.
‘So many people are standing for the first time and it’s a bit of a gamble,’ she said.
‘The Guernsey Press supplement was very useful, the questions in that were much more useful than everyone’s own manifesto. Also knowing how sitting deputies had voted in the past was very helpful.’
She voted for 38 candidates although did not intend to initially.
Tina and Kevin Allen took the sunny weather as an opportunity to walk to the polling station. ‘I wish it was still parish voting, because they’ve all got different views on things such as housing because they all live in different areas,’ said Mr Allen, who voted for 26 candidates.
‘I’ve voted for a lot of women this time, I just want people who will get things done.’
She voted for 18 candidates, and said it was a lot harder to go through.
‘We’re retired but before we even looked at the book we had an idea of who we were going to vote for, and speed-read the book because it’s just too big,’ she said.
‘Life’s too short to sit down and read 82 manifestos.’
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