I'll update this post as information comes in today.
23.40pm: And after all the sound and fury, you retire to the pub with the opposition for a pint and some reflection. Then you come home and find another minister has resigned. Strange days. Turnout looks like around 45%-50% which is pretty good and will, according to convention, benefit the major parties. Maybe. I think I picked up a lot of first time voters and nenver-voted-before voters. 680 people voted in Colerne with about another 200 casting postal ballots out of 1,900 electorate. Counting starts tomorrow around 1pm.
7.37pm: Turnout has seemed reasonable but that might be because the campaign here has been quite active. Only passing signs of BNP and Labour, nothing from Ukip and the BNP say that this is not a target ward. The Lib Dems delivered a letter appealin directly to Green voters to vote Lib Dem. However it seems to have backfired as many people are angry at being pushed into voting one way.
4.24pm: Very useful canvass outside Box prmiary school and then targeting every household with a Lib Dem leaflet in the window. After that a trek through some of the scattered hamlets. A lot of miles for a few votes but thought a visit on election day might have a higher impact. It's all about convincing yourself that at this stage you can have much of an impact on the result. Turnout steady- not great but not poor.
1.56pm: About 10% of the Colerne electorate has voted by now (not uncluding postal votees). Lib Dems making desperate attempts to swing Green voters on the doorstep with falacious arguments so am planning to counter that (after a cup of tea). Apparently Lib Dems in Salisbury have been ordered to remove acar blaring out party political messages which is right outside one of the polling stations.
11.16am: Been acting as a teller since 7.30am but stepped out to do some work. 130 people have voted in Colerne (out of 1,900 electorate). Whether that is good, bad or indifferent is hard to know but it seems quiet to me. Nicest person was the man who stopped on his way out to say how glad he was the Greens were standing and wished me the best of luck. The BNP agent came by saying he was there to check the seals on the ballot boxes. "We're really worried about voter fraud, especially in the North West," he said. Getting the excuses ready early?
I hear from the council that there have been 55,000 requests for postal votes in the county including (possibly) around 1,000 for Box & Colerne. Turnout could be higher than expected.
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