Counting Warminster votes - and the anonymous helpers.

Have you ever wondered what happens to your ballot paper after you you stuffed it into the box at your polling station? 

Thanks to a trip to

Trowbridge on election night the story can now be told.

Responsibility for all procedures to do with the polling lies with the Deputy Acting Returning Officer, Carlton Brand, who,  when not supervising the count, is Corporate

Director for Resources for Wiltshire Council. 

 

 At 10 pm polls at the stations across Warminster closed and all boxes were

taken to Trowbridge by those who had manned the station during the day. By half

past ten there was a queue of cars from all over the South West Wilts constituency lining up to drop off their boxes at the

Civic Hall in St Stephen’s Way. 

Inside the huge hall rows of tables had been laid out in an L shape

facing the platform where the black boxes were being stacked.    On the inside of the tables sat 50 or so

counters already hard at work. Some are Council employees; others are brought

in especially for the job.  All must

remain anonymous so it is not possible to name the two counters from Warminster

who were diligently stacking up the bundles.

Boxes are taken from the stage boxes to the tables and their

contents tipped out.  

There are two stages to the counting process. The first is a basic count to make

sure that the number of papers matches the number of votes recorded at the

station.  

 While papers are straightened out and collected into bundles

of 25, candidates, agents and members of the press can wander around the

tables. Of course all eyes are trying to spot where the crosses are. Candidates’

names are in alphabetical order on the paper so it is easy to work out how far

up or down the sheet to look for the all important cross.

 The second stage of the count is more exciting.  Papers are once again emptied onto the table.

This time the bundles are sorted into piles, one for each candidate.  Now onlookers can begin to get an idea of how

the voting is going as one pile grows more quickly than another.

 Sometimes the counters report a spoiled paper and the

returning officer has to decide its fate. 

Carlton Brand explains what makes a spoiled paper, "Sometimes there is no mark at all on the paper.

One had been cut into little pieces. 

Some people scribble political essays and some put a tick with a smiley face. This latter 

is the only kind of “spoiled paper” that was actually allowed.”

There numbers have to be recorded in the

final count and this time there were 91 spoiled papers.   

 Eventually boxes had been emptied and all papers

counted.  It was 3.30am and after weeks

of build-up the uncertainty and suspense would soon be over.  It was reminiscent of a TV talent show final

with contestants waiting nervously to hear how  viewers had voted.

To a hushed audience and without any agonising pauses to

build up the tension, Carlton Brand read out the number of votes.  There were no shrieks of excitement from the

winner, no hugs and no tears. The victorious Andrew Murrison allowed himself a

relieved smile and turned to shake the hands of his fellow candidates,  who

bravely smiled back.

The bundles of ballot papers are kept for two years, locked

away in what Mr Brand described as “one of our facilities”.  The count might have been over but negotiations for a new government had only

just begun.