Dear Editor

Can I reply to the letter from Rob Lucas printed in last week’s paper.

As you are aware I stood for election for the North ward. I spent a lot of time outside the Friends Meeting House polling station talking to voters during the day.

Most people, when asked if they were going to vote replied, ‘I can’t, I haven’t been sent a polling card’. In fact I was asked for my polling card by the staff when I went to vote, they were very surprised when I told them that none had been issued. They thought the quoted price of £1 was a little bit expensive.

People think that a polling card is an official document and that they need one to be able to cast their vote. They thought that the reason that they had not been sent a card was because they could not vote in this election.

The government always goes on about low turn outs but this does not help the situation when they are not kept informed. I know that several voters put their point of view across to the election inspector on the day.

I also spoke to five people who turned up to vote but found that they were at the wrong station. They did not all then make the journey to the Larruperz Centre to vote.

Cynics would say that it suited the established parties in the area to have a low turn out as they would have regular voters that they could call on to vote.

I started with nothing and I would be interested to know if all my votes were new voters or voters defecting from the other parties.

The Friends Meeting House is not ideal as a polling station but due to a lack of amenities on this side of town where else can you hold it?

Can I wish Jenny Hyde congratulations on her win, the good thing is that now she represents us on Town and County Councils so we should have no problem getting things done.

Can I also thank everyone who turned out to vote for me and I am sorry that I could not deliver the result that you hoped for.

Mel Hodges, Ross