Polling stations are now open and after months of campaigning, voters finally have the chance to go to the polls. Of course, the increasing popularity of postal votes means that much of the population will actually have already cast their vote before today (if you haven’t posted it back yet, scroll down to find out what to do now), but at the very least after today you will get a couple of weeks rest before parties are back out campaigning for the General Election.
Today there are two elections taking place, the first is an election for Crawley Borough Council, with a third of the council’s seats up for election each year for three years, followed by the county council election in the fourth year. While most wards are three-members, we still have three two-member wards as this enabled us to have boundaries which better reflected the local neighbourhoods, as a result each year one council seat isn’t up for election and this year it’s Furnace Green’s time out.
The borough council run around half of local services in Crawley, with the others being the responsibility of West Sussex County Council.
In addition to running a number of important services, the borough council gets to set part of Crawley’s council tax, with the remainder set by West Sussex County Council and the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner.
At the moment, there are 20 Labour councillors and 16 Conservative councillors. No other parties have managed to secure election to the council since 2007 (although we have had people defect to UKIP and Independent mid-term) and no third-party in second-place in any of the seats.
With the things so finely-balanced, a change of just two seats would put the council back into No Overall Control, three seats would see a Conservative majority. Elections in Crawley tend to run very close. In 2005, Labour won the constituency by just 37 votes. In 2006, the Conservatives won the council on a coin toss, following an equal number of Labour and Conservative votes cast in the deciding seat. Most years we have seats won or lost by less than 100 votes.
The other election taking place today will decide the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner. While people often complain to councillors and the council about the police, they are the only politician across East and West Sussex with any direct control over the police. They set the budget–now taking more of Crawley’s council tax than the borough council does, they can hire and fire the Chief Constable, and set the priorities for police in our area. If you have any opinions about how our police are run, it is important to vote in this election as it is the only election which can directly affect how services are delivered.
At every election the Police and Crime Commissioner contest in Sussex has been between the Conservatives, who have held the role since it was created in 2012, and Labour. Current polls have it as a close contest for the first time and as the rules have changed to make the election First-Past-The-Post, you will now only get the one vote as to which party you would prefer to win.
Polling stations are open today from 7am to 10pm, although anyone who is queueing at 10pm will still be allowed to vote. You don’t need your polling card to vote, but you will need to show valid ID. You can check your ID online here: https://openbritain.typeform.com/to/BBC4QUZ9
If you don’t have valid ID, emergency proxy votes can still be applied for by returning this completed form to the Town Hall by 5pm: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/Emergency%20proxy%20Photo%20ID%20GB.pdf
To find your local polling station go to: https://iwillvote.org.uk
If you haven’t already sent your postal vote back you still have the chance to have your say, as you can hand your ballot in at any polling station in Crawley (for lost/spoilt ballots, you can get a replacement by contacting the Town Hall at any point before 5pm today). Political parties are banned from handling postal votes, so unfortunately we won’t be able to help hand these in.
Parties will be working to increase turnout on the day by knocking people’s doors. This is why we have people at some polling stations, we ask to see your polling card or get your address. We’re not being nosey, we use this information to avoid bothering people who have already voted. Sorry for any disturbance caused by our campaigners, but the evidence is it significantly increases voter turnout, which is why our volunteers are using up their annual leave to do it.
In the polling station, find the right table for your street, give your name and address and show your ID. You will then be issued with a ballot paper. There are alcoves provided so you can vote in secret. As there are two elections taking place in Crawley on Thursday, you will only receive two ballot papers (or one in Furnace Green) and will be able to vote for a single candidate on each ballot paper.
Please put a clear cross in the box next to the name of the candidate you wish to vote for and put nothing else on the ballot paper. Anything other than a cross centrally located in a candidate’s box might result in your vote being discounted. Votes containing any details from which you could be identified (name, address, signature, etc.) is automatically rejected to preserve the secrecy of the ballot.
When polls close, boxes are sealed with a tamper-proof tag and stored securely overnight before being taken to the count the next morning. Candidates, a limited number of their guests, and journalists are all allowed to attend the count to ensure the process is conducted fairly.
The first step of any count is checking that the number of ballots in each box either matches the number which were issued at its polling station (that’s the paperwork they draw a line on when they give you your ballot) or for the postal votes that it matches the number verified at the Town Hall (again, this process is open to party representatives to supervise). Once all of that has been verified, we start counting the actual ballots and it’s at this point that the returning officer takes a decision on any unusual ballots, in consultation with parties’ election agents. Once this process is concluded, we have a result (subject to recounts).
If you’d like to know more about the candidates up for election this year, local party websites tend to contain details, alternatively the independent website https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/ provides summaries about each candidate on a single website.
As this election could produce either a Conservative or Labour controlled local authority, you might also wish to look at local party manifestos. The Crawley Labour manifestos for this and past years can be found here: https://www.crawleylabour.org.uk/manifestos/
Unfortunately, at time of writing no other local party appears to have produced a manifesto for this year’s election, but their respective websites and Facebook pages are likely to contain some details of the policy commitments they are making at this election.
Obviously, I strongly feel that there is one party best-placed to stand up for the needs of our community, but whoever you plan to vote for, please do take the time to vote. People continue to fight and die for the right to choose their own Government, just as past generations of our countrymen fought to secure and defend our rights.
Peter Lamb for Crawley 