Used your student vote?
Students wanting to vote in the general election last week were segregated from local residents in some areas, having to wait longer to cast their vote. This came at the same time as the announcement that some polling stations had closed their doors at 10pm with people still queuing to vote outside, which has prompted a review, as many people who were entitled to vote were not able to.
Wes Streeting, President of the Natinal Union of Students, said: “Where students and other voters have been disenfranchised, local authorities should hang their heads in shame. It is outrageous that citizens should be denied their basic right to vote and we demand inquiry into how this situation occurred.
“We are alarmed by reports that students were placed in a separate, slower queue. Students’ unions have worked tirelessly to reverse the trend of low voter turnout amongst students and other young people. What message does this send to first time voters whose votes will not be counted?”
Reports have now stated that many students had forgotten to bring their polling cards, causing delays in the voting process.
There were also reports of delays in the several key student seats, including; Manchester Withington, Liverpool Wavertree, Hackney South and Shoreditch, and the City of Chester.
Prior to the general election, the NUS and many universities, including the University of Portsmouth, ran a ‘Vote for Students’ awareness program to get students to register to vote, urging them to vote for a candidate that would represent the views of students.
In Portsmouth South, where the University is located, 41,264 people voted; an increase of 1.3% on the last election in 2005.
Mike Hancock, MP, retained his seat for the Liberal Democrats in Portsmouth South with 45.9% of the votes, beating Conservative’s Flick Drummond (with 33.9% of the vote), whilst Labour’s John Ferrett took a 13.7% share of the votes.
Portsmouth South is now one of only four Liberal Democrat seats in the whole of the South East of England.
Portsmouth North was taken from Labour by the Conservative candidate, Penny Mordaunt.
