News Historical vote set to decide Howden MP
Voters in today's Howden by-election will be presented with the biggest ballot paper in the East Riding's history.
The monster voting paper - which will feature the names of 26 candidates - will be presented to voters today (Thursday) at polling stations throughout the constituency.
Voters will be told by presiding officers to fold the 12in x 11in ballot paper three times so it can fit in the ballot box. And the names of all 26 candidates - half of them independents - have had to be printed in two columns rather than one, as is the norm, just to fit them on the ballot paper.
This is because electoral law dictates that voters should be able to see all candidates' names at a glance, without having to turn overleaf.
A spokesman for East Riding Council said the list of candidates for today's polls - which were prompted by the shock resignation of former shadow home secretary and Haltemprice & Howden MP David Davis - was the longest ever for any kind of election in East Riding's history, and possibly Britain's.
He added: "The guidance for people and recommended way of folding the paper will effectively be to bisect it three times. First they halve it, then halve that to leave a quarter, and then halve the quarter - that's three bisections of the page so it becomes an eighth. That will go nicely into the ballot box."
He added: "It's an extraordinary-looking ballot paper and it's a one-off. It has 26 names; 13 on each side, because all the names have to be seen at a glance. Of course common sense will have to be used and there will be basic advice from presiding officers. I'm sure (people) will use their common sense to resolve any difficulties with individual voters."
The presiding officers will in turn be guided by the acting returning officer Nigel Pearson, chief executive of the East Riding Council.
In the last General Election, in 2005, there were just five candidates in the Haltemprice & Howden constituency.
Mr Davis - who resigned in protest at new anti-terror laws which allow suspects to be held for up to 42 days without charge - won that by 5,116 votes, gaining 9.7 per cent more votes than his nearest rival, Lib Dem John Neal.
This year a whole host of candidates - from those with a serious political message to others with a somewhat more frivolous agenda - have jumped on the election bandwagon.
They include rape-law campaigner Jill Saward, Miss Great Britain Gemma Garrett, former BBC sports presenter David Icke - who once claimed to be the son of God - and one David Laurence Bishop, of the Church of Militant Elvis Party.
The returning officer is Jonathan Watson Hall, the High Sheriff of East Riding of Yorkshire. The count is scheduled to start between 2am and 2.30am tomorrow, July 11.
* This week's Howden by-election will cost the taxpayer more than £200,000, it has been revealed. A free mailshot provided to each of the 26 candidates will cost £112,600, says the Royal Mail.
And the East Riding Council, which is footing the bill for the election, estimates their costs will be at least £95,000.
The by-election was called by former Shadow Home Secretary and Howden MP David Davis over civil liberties and new anti-terror laws, which allow suspects to be held without charge for up to 42 days. A recent poll by the Yorkshire-based Joseph Rowntree Trust showed that 54 per cent of residents in the county believe terrorist suspects should be held without charge for no more than 28 days.
Published on 10th July 2008 in News.
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