We can all get together to help save General Election night

By Jonathan Isaby / @isaby

It was only on Monday – along with Labour MP Tom Harris and Mark Pack of Lib Dem Voice – that I co-founded the Save General Election Night campaign, in response to reports that increasing numbers of Returning Officers are planning on counting the votes cast at the next election on the Friday morning rather than the Thursday night.

I won’t go over all the arguments against taking such a retrograde step here – they are summarised on the Facebook group, which now has nearly 4,000 members.

But suffice to say, it is increasingly clear that there is a strong consensus at the grassroots across all parties in favour of retaining overnight counts. Election night is one of the few occasions when millions of people will sit together around a television and feel engaged in the democratic process and, dare I say it, take an interest in politics.

And at a basic level, it is a mark of respect to all those who have participated in the election, whether as voters, campaigners or candidates, to deliver a result – both locally and nationally – as swiftly as possible.

So I welcome this opportunity to thank LabourList readers for their support to date, and in particular to Anthony Painter and Alex Smith for their active backing for the campaign.

We have made much progress during the week: dozens of bloggers from across the political spectrum have voiced their support; we have secured coverage in the broadcast media with hits on Radio 4, Radio 5 Live and a number of local radio stations, not to mention official backing from Adam Boulton and Sky News; and we have ensured that the issue has been highlighted in the print media with coverage on the Guardian’s Comment is Free website, the Daily Telegraph and the Independent (as well as countless pieces in the regional media and one unexplained appearance in a Hungarian newspaper!).

The Independent piece was significant in that it demonstrated a consensus at the highest eschelons of the parties in favour of the campaign as well: aside from Eric Pickles’ endorsement of the campaign for the Tories and senior Liberal Democrat Ed Davey’s declaration that it was “important for democracy”, we were told that Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, regards Thursday night counts as “part of the fabric of the political system”, which was music to my ears.

That said, we’ve some way to go, and in the latest news section of the Facebook group we are keeping tallies of which constituencies are planning on counting when, in order to establish where pressure needs to be applied. Of the 290 seats for which supporters have submitted information, only half have confirmed a Thursday night count: and whilst only 25 have supposedly settled on a Friday count, a large proportion of the 123 undecided constituencies are actively considering it. If your constituency is not listed, it would be immensely helpful if you could find out the Returning Officer’s intentions and let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

In the meantime, I hope that in the days and weeks to come we will all continue to lobby our respective parties both in council chambers and at Westminster to ensure that the issue remains live. Together I believe we can ensure that the next general election night does not become a “damp squib and anti-climax” for everyone, as Alex Smith rightly described this year’s local and European elections.