UK Elections - Exit polls / First impressions / Constituency Results

sceptre wrote: »

Yeah, but the increase in voters is across the country. The "fault" (in a general sense) is also with the people who voted later but they're also basing it on what they managed to do last time - one expects to be able to vote if you arrive with 20 minutes to go. I rarely turn up to polling stations with more than five minutes or ten minutes to go, I'm usually aware that there might be a problem. The obvious solution though would have been precisely what Mandelson mentioned - close the doors as you're supposed to do but get them all in the hall so they can vote. It's never arisen before as a problem so I suspect that the returning officers didn't really know what to do.

And while an increase in voters typically suits the opposition, this election has been so close that everyone knows there's a greater chance that their vote could count and make a difference. That gets an increase in voters for all parties. It's been almost two decades since people have had that feeling about their vote in a national UK election and that makes a difference.