OVERNIGHT COUNTS ARE A STEP TOO FAR

OVERNIGHT COUNTS ARE A STEP TOO FAR

Responding to a consulation by the returning officers in which moving the
General Election count from the night of poll to the following day is
proposed an SNP spokesperson said:

"We are not convinced by the argument that overnight counts lead to less
efficient elections.

"The election rules instruct returning officers to make arrangements for
counting the votes 'as soon as practicable after the close of the poll'.

"This same instruction has been part of the rules on the conduct of
elections since 1872, when the secret ballot was first introduced.

"There is clearly a balance to be struck at a policy level between the
needs of electoral administrators and the desire of the public to know the
result of the election as soon as possible. Getting rid of overnight
counts is a step too far."