Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Syt]

Dogging is slang for which sexual act? Full Intercourse? Oral? Anal? Queer friendly or straight only?

I thought it was just fucking outdoors (like dogs do)?

I thought it was called that because people walking their dogs would run into you?

[Sheilbh]

This is entirely unrelated to anything, but saw a British commentator make this point and I agree. UK elections coverage could learn a lot from the US on engaging with data - if you're up at 2am on election night (ESPECIALLY for local elections) you are probably the sort of geek who can take some explanations of the wards involved etc. And we should have fewer gimmicks like Jeremy Vine roaming his 3D House of Commons

On the other hand I actually think the panel/hosting is better - so don't fuck with that.

[Syt]

This is entirely unrelated to anything, but saw a British commentator make this point and I agree. UK elections coverage could learn a lot from the US on engaging with data - if you're up at 2am on election night (ESPECIALLY for local elections) you are probably the sort of geek who can take some explanations of the wards involved etc. And we should have fewer gimmicks like Jeremy Vine roaming his 3D House of Commons

On the other hand I actually think the panel/hosting is better - so don't fuck with that.

European elections are usually a lot more straightforward and less theatrical, though, and with less drama in the run up to election day. "Here's the votes, and here's who gets how many seats."

[Sheilbh]

European elections are usually a lot more straightforward and less theatrical, though, and with less drama in the run up to election day. "Here's the votes, and here's who gets how many seats."

Less drama in the campaign but here European elections were the same - we'd have an election night etc. They were, with local authority elections, the closest we came to mid-terms so, practically, they were always a massive rebuke to the government and a great source of comfort to the fringe/extremist parties like UKIP and the Lib Dems.

[Josquius]

On local authority elections.... Seeing a sharp uptick in "everything is the councils fault" bollocks on local Facebook groups lately. Some clearly from youye usual fascistly inclined profiles.

[Zanza]

This is entirely unrelated to anything, but saw a British commentator make this point and I agree. UK elections coverage could learn a lot from the US on engaging with data - if you're up at 2am on election night (ESPECIALLY for local elections) you are probably the sort of geek who can take some explanations of the wards involved etc. And we should have fewer gimmicks like Jeremy Vine roaming his 3D House of Commons

On the other hand I actually think the panel/hosting is better - so don't fuck with that.

By 2am in election night we already have the official result for the entire country for four hours or so and there is nothing to discuss anymore on statistics. 

[Syt]

European elections are usually a lot more straightforward and less theatrical, though, and with less drama in the run up to election day. "Here's the votes, and here's who gets how many seats."

Less drama in the campaign but here European elections were the same - we'd have an election night etc. They were, with local authority elections, the closest we came to mid-terms so, practically, they were always a massive rebuke to the government and a great source of comfort to the fringe/extremist parties like UKIP and the Lib Dems.

That's state elections in Germany/Austria, though it's usually a balance between punishing federal government and actual regional politics. Communal elections are covered, but not quite as extensively as federal and state ones.

[Sheilbh]

By 2am in election night we already have the official result for the entire country for four hours or so and there is nothing to discuss anymore on statistics.

Yeah - here polling closes at ten so you have a few constituencies that train for it (Sunderland and Newcastle) coming in by about 11, then dribs and drabs. 2am is when you start to get lots of results and really the election night is analysing to look for what the story is.

So in 2019 it was the collapse of the "red wall" etc. I feel like the people watching could do with going to the next level of detail/data.

[celedhring]

Last Spanish general election we had full provisional results 3 hours after poll stations closed. Back in the time there used to be far more drama, but now polling stations just upload the results on the cloud and the whole thing gets tabulated really quickly.

[Syt]

Vienna count this year took till Tuesday to be finalized. Normally you have the big picture on election day (Sunday). Then on Monday the mail in votes are tallied. That can lead to a few seats swapping around, but nothing big. This year there were notably more mail in votes due to the pandemic.

[Zanza]

My city elects its mayor tomorrow and I would be surprised if they don't have the result late tomorrow evening. But our polling places close by 6 pm, so that explains why it is not going into the middle of the night.

[celedhring]

Vienna count this year took till Tuesday to be finalized. Normally you have the big picture on election day (Sunday). Then on Monday the mail in votes are tallied. That can lead to a few seats swapping around, but nothing big. This year there were notably more mail in votes due to the pandemic.

Over here mail vote is mixed in with the election day vote and counted together. The only vote that gets counted separately is overseas vote, which is added 3 days later (hence the Sunday results being provisional), but it's usually very small and only exceptionally moves one seat here and there.

[Syt]

I don't know why Austria counts the mail in ballots on Monday. Considering that the polling places close at 6 pm on Sunday, you'd think it would be easily possible.

Another thing to keep in mind with the speed of the vote count: elections in Austria (and last I checked in Germany) have a lot more polling places per capita, so you have more hands doing the counting. During the recent Vienna election there were few places that had more than a few hundred votes to tally. That said, vote counting isn't very automated here, unlike in the US.

[Sheilbh]

Last Spanish general election we had full provisional results 3 hours after poll stations closed. Back in the time there used to be far more drama, but now polling stations just upload the results on the cloud and the whole thing gets tabulated really quickly.

No. I can't think of anything I'm more conservative about. It's an essential part of our constitutional system that a Defence Secretary or Shadow Chancellor stands on a makeshift stage in a leisure centre and is told they've lost their job. It's what election night is about: "were you up for Portillo/Balls?"

My city elects its mayor tomorrow and I would be surprised if they don't have the result late tomorrow evening. But our polling places close by 6 pm, so that explains why it is not going into the middle of the night.

Yeah we don't have early voting - but have quite easy mail-in ballots (need to arrive by election day so you're told to send them at least a week before polling day). But it's not a holiday and our traditional voting day is Thursday, so the polls are normally open, I think, from 7am to 10pm.

And if it's tight and there are recounts they can normally do one or two recounts on the night. It's very rare that they have to go into the next day (except for a few particularly spread out constituencies in Scotland where they only start counting the next day).

[Sheilbh]

Over here mail vote is mixed in with the election day vote and counted together. The only vote that gets counted separately is overseas vote, which is added 3 days later (hence the Sunday results being provisional), but it's usually very small and only exceptionally moves one seat here and there.

Mail ballots are kept separate because they have different verification proceedings, but they are counted on the night.

And I think that includes any overseas ballots because that's the way you vote if you're out of your constituency - and you only have a right to vote if you're overseas if you've been resident in the UK in the last 15 years, there are no "Overseas Brits" constituencies.