Anyone any idea how its looking votewise ?

[POSTMAN]

Anything been leaked , or have we any moles in the camp ??? And whens the official result given and where will we find out 1st ??

Nothing yet,not sure,27th,and HERE.

[BELIAL]

Educated guess would say the NO's have it so far. Would this bunch extend the ballot deadline if it was going their way?

[Martin Walsh]

Belial wishful thinking me thinks! I have no idea of how the result is going but imagine it's a yes vote and an over whelming yes vote at that ! Do you not think headqauters would want a big turn out ! The truth is what I reported last week over 15 thousand ballot papers were still in the east London mail centre revenue protection and those ballot papers were for the south west and welsh regions.

Plus due to the fact that planes have been grounded which has meant all mail for longer destinations had to go by road only delaying it especially Scotland to where the ballot is returned in London .

The other factor which has been confirmed by the mailing house which sent out the ballot papers is that it the machine which inserts the DVD and ballot papers sometimes skips a letter or two. Bearing in mind the union was sending out over a hundred thousand ballot papers some members recieved the DVD but not the ballot paper. Those who rung headquaters were able to get a ballot paper sent !

The ballot has been extended by just 3 posting days and whilst that time might improve the turn out it will in my opinion not have a bearing on the overall result whether it be a yes or no !

[Tman]

How can anyone say how it's going when the poll hasn't closed yet?


Would any reputable scrutineers allow counting to start when the poll is still current, and so allow possible allegations of "losing a wad of "yes's/no's" to fix the outcome?

It's a parallel world for some..

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Although because its a consultative ballot its not illegal to pre-count the votes, I would ask why anyone would.

One reason would be to get an idea of how the vote is going, but the risk of the validity of the ballot being questioned would outweigh any possible benefits so I don't think this would be a reasonable reason. It would also be a big political risk for the CWU leaders if they did try to get an accurate count.

Another reason would be the length of time taken to count the votes. Well as the firm that will be responsible for counting them is a professional company I am certain they would use modern machinery to do it rather than count it manually. Just a quick search on the internet and you can find machines that count 300 (double sided) votes per minute. So with 121,000 to count (an educated guess) it would only take just over 6 hours to count and verify.


There are only 2 accepted ways of guestimating a result before the votes are counted and one is an "Exit Poll" and the other a "Straw Poll" both mean the same thing - people are asked how they voted and readings are made from that. However both types are prone to people not telling the truth or saying what they think the person asking the question wants to hear.

However, I would expect that the CWU are indeed taking unofficial straw polls at the various meetings that have taken place and will be able to make an educated guess at how the vote is going.

[edo10]

help me out with this with regard to the machine in the mailing house, if the machine skips a letter or two ,is it an address envelope it skips with a ballot paper ? and if so ,does it place it one or two envelopes down the line ? would that not mean one person gets another persons ballot paper ? i thought the ballot papers were marked or coded( one man one vote and all that),or is there ballot papers lying in the mailing house ? if i phone up and say i didnt get a ballot paper how do they know ? iam just curious as to i this works .

[ronpetetrevchris]

heard a rumour about an email doing the rounds from RM to its managers saying the turnout is low and encouraging the managers to hace one to ones with members to encourage them to vote. Naughty Naughty

[Carnoustie]

Just a quick search on the internet and you can find machines that count 300 (double sided) votes per minute. So with 121,000 to count (an educated guess) it would only take just over 6 hours to count and verify.

I would be surprised if turnout is anywhere near that sort of figure. I'd guess about 80,000 returned ballot papers.
As others have said, it's amazing to me how many people don't ever return their ballot paper

[POSTMAN]

How can anyone say how it's going when the poll hasn't closed yet?


Would any reputable scrutineers allow counting to start when the poll is still current, and so allow possible allegations of "losing a wad of "yes's/no's" to fix the outcome?

It's a parallel world for some..

Dude from ITN told me how the vote was going when we were balloted for IA.

[POSTMAN]

The other factor which has been confirmed by the mailing house which sent out the ballot papers is that it the machine which inserts the DVD and ballot papers sometimes skips a letter or two

Who helped them modernise.

Now,let's get to the nitty gritty here,3 days aint enough if you need a new ballot paper.
And by your figures above,we are talking thousands of extra ballot papers needed!
WTF!

[BELIAL]

Belial wishful thinking me thinks!

Yes indeed, but hardly a crime to hope our members will will see an improvement in their terms and conditions ,is it ?

Then of course you do have the problem that the people who vote early are more likely to be those who feel strongly about the issues , couple that with the fact that anyone would have a mammoth task trying to motivate people to vote for a pay cut,more work ,mass job losses and some vague promises about trust and mutual benefit , and i'd guess it would look touch and go. One of us will be wrong

[Pat Ostman]

The other factor which has been confirmed by the mailing house which sent out the ballot papers is that the machine which inserts the DVD and ballot papers sometimes skips a letter or two. Bearing in mind the union was sending out over a hundred thousand ballot papers some members recieved the DVD but not the ballot paper. Those who rung headquaters were able to get a ballot paper sent !

Please sir, can I have some more?

If this was a 'strike' ballot the courts would deem the result illegal (if, lets say, the result went the wrong way for example). Unfortunately we have no-one batting for our side in this 'agreement or is this another chance for a re ballot for both sides?

Something is not quite right here, and I am not talking about the combined wages of the leaders of the CWU.

[NWpostie]

I feel eventually it will be quite meaningless, when the Tories get in, they will sell us off.

[bexhil palace]

Call me an old cynic, but if the vote comes back as a yes there is no one to question the validity of the result.
With RM and CWU batting for the same side,(i'm not for one moment suggesting wrongdoing in any way)but if there was some worry over the result,
who would challenge it?

[NWpostie]

If its a yes we lose out bigtime - if its a no we lose out bigtime - where`s the fairness ??

May as well take the money and run