'X' Marks The Spot

The past two weeks have been a rare privilege.

Thanks to A's role as the Agent for a candidate for MP in his constituency, I had the distinct honour of an inside view of the British political process.

My journey began shortly upon my arrival as A put me to work (on a volunteer basis!) canvassing the streets of the ward that he occupies as a councillor delivering leaflets. (It was interesting to note that said leaflets are placed through the letterboxes which I believe is actually illegal in the U.S.).

The next phase of my experience was the 'riveting' day I spent at the postal vote count at the council offices. (A sure knows how to show a lady a good time!). Seriously though, I was genuinely pleased to be a part of this process. I participated in verifying questionable signatures on ballots (i.e. the validity of the votes), and enjoyed interacting with Agents and members of a few of the opposing parties, who I sensed were having a rare day of camaraderie as they worked together to ensure that the process was fair.

Voting day was interesting, as I note that the ballots are paper, and that one marks an 'X' in the box next to their candidate of choice then simply folds the slip of paper and places it in the ballot box. Perhaps America could learn something from this in light of the 'hanging chads' fiasco.

I think one of my favorite elements of my inclusion in local election proceedings was the day known as 'The Count'. I was granted a rare and precious 'pass' to attend this event at the Civic Hall, and observe the election workers literally counting the paper ballots, and placing them into piles. Each pile signified a specific party's candidate for MP, and the winner would go on to represent the constituency in Parliament. It was exciting to watch as the counted vote piles grew and it eventually became obvious which party and candidate would prevail in this region. The room was full of (albeit limited numbers of) representatives of each party (Labour, Conservatives aka 'Tories', Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Ukip, BNP), as well as the BBC news and Radio Cumbria. The anticipation was palpable. This was particularly so in part due to what was happening at the national level. As this region was among the latter 30 to be counted nationally, one had the feeling that their votes mattered more than ever.

Eventually, the results were known for this constituency, and the day was capped with formal announcements, news coverage, and speeches from the winning party candidate, as well as a rousing and somewhat shocking rant from one of the losing candidates!

Sadly, A was rather dejected on this day, as his candidate was not able to overcome the fact that the opposing party has long held the seat in this area. He did an excellent job, but I struggled to comfort his sense of defeat. A spent some time on his own as I joined our friends Helen and Rob for a post-election meal.

Given the current political situation nationally, and the potential for changing alliances, one might wonder if this process will be repeated all too soon. I prefer the optimistic view that a new era of political cooperation has been ushered in.


In all, it was an amazing experience at an historical time politically in the UK, and I am so happy to have had a front row seat!