Wrexham Votes – The European Elections Live Coverage

You can review our live coverage of today’s European elections throughout the day, including the results of our straw poll predicting Sunday’s outcome…

You can find our full guide on the elections here, which includes the listings of polling stations around Wrexham so you know where to go.

10:17pm This concludes our European Election 2014 live coverage, however make sure you check back on Sunday when the formal results get announced!

As usual thanks to everyone who took part and interacted with this live coverage, the site is here for you and for Wrexham and we simply cant do it without you!

10:12pm If the below is reflected nationwide it could represent a 19% swing away from the Conservatives, with UKIP up a similar figure. Labour would be up 7% while the Liberal Democrats would be down 10%. Of course our straw poll results are based on a small sample of Wrexham.com’ers so are entirely unscientific – and it will be interesting to see how close these figures match the local, welsh and national picture.

10:10pm The voting sample was based on 350 strong snap poll via Wrexham.com last night. Below is the results of that poll with percentages of votes received, plus if those percentages occurred in 2009 what rough vote totals the parties would be getting for Wales:

10:06pm Labour and Plaid Cymru will both take one seat each in our straw poll projections.

10:05pm Wrexham.com’s Straw Poll predicts UKIP victory in Wales, returning 2 seats for them.

10:02pm A few have asked about today’s vote outcome – it wont be known until Sunday, this is due to differing poll days throughout Europe. The next update in a minute will run through our straw poll results and what that could mean….

10pm POLLS CLOSE – Thats it, if you have not voted by now you will have to wait until 2019 to have another crack at it. Coming up shortly… the results of our straw poll last night, and result predictions based on that!

21:45 Fifteen minutes to go before polls close, and we have asked on our Facebook Page why people decided not to vote, and have had a range of replies from those blaming ‘zionist bankers’ to those still encourage voting. One reply from Mark tackles the probable low turnout issue saying “I did vote but apathy is as much from the candidates as the voters. I suppose we’d grumble at getting a knock at the door every five minutes but nobody seems interested in working for a vote…”

21:34 A few more updates been tweeted to us “Just been to vote. I was 160th person to vote at my polling station. Come on people of Wrexham get down there and vote!” and Liam says “Three people coming out as I went to vote at Little Acton now #laterush”.

21:30 We have just got back from our final lap of polling stations – finishing with the one at Gresford Colliery Club. All quiet with only one last minute voter there.

21:08 Told , and observed via Twitter “Just voted at Whitegate& only 160 people have voted there all day. Nation of zombies. More vote for X Factor and BGT.”

20:53 Little over an hour to go as we pop out one final time to have a look at polling station activity nearby. A thought must go to those staffing the centres who have had a long long day by all accounts, yet without whom there would not be a proper election taking place.

20:45 Around the country there have been places where police have been placed at polling stations, with sixteen areas identified by the Electoral Commission as being “high risk” for vote-rigging and ‘bullying’. Luckily for us up here we are not in one of those sixteen, and with a quick check with North Wales Police earlier today it did not seem they were called to any election related incidents, nor arrests for taking unlawful selfies while voting!

20:36 We have had some reports of low turnouts , however the speculation does not reach as low as the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections. Remember him? For the PCC elections Wrexham had one of the lowest turnouts where around 85% of registered voters did not bother to take part.

8pm Polls are only open until 10pm so voting is in the final stretch now. One thing we have heard time and again today by those at polling stations is surprise and sometimes confusion at the ballot paper itself. Some have said to us they were curious to the length of the paper, and some of the options were not that straightforward. For those who have not been able to , or chosen not to vote, this is a picture of the hefty ballot:

19:51 Happy to report that it seems quite a few people are dodging the rain and popping along to vote after tea, for example Annette getting in touch to say “Just voted in Rhos, 6 people there.”

19:37 More updates from people voting this evening, a common theme today but perhaps livening up now:

Battled the rain to the polling station. Happy to hear New Broughton polling station has had a ‘steady’ flow of voters all day @wrexham

— Hollie Lewis (@hollielewis) May 22, 2014

@wrexham it was quiet as a mouse!! Felt sorry for the 2 guys manning it, must’ve been bored out their heads! — Pete Wynne (@petewynne) May 22, 2014

@wrexham just been to Johnstown and I was the only one there x

— Rhi (@rhij7xx) May 22, 2014

19:15 The heavens have opened over Wrexham! We popped to Bradley polling station before the rain started coming down. There were a few people popping in to vote. We have also had some more people contact us about polling stations in their area. Lynne has tweeted us to say that they had been to New Broughton and that it had been ‘quiet’. Robert told us that the Hold Road polling station was also quiet and Tom said that Little Acton was ‘pretty quiet’. 18:53 Gone quite dark out there and the heavens have started to open. Nice(!) band of rain about to pass over, with the rain getting heavier at 7:30pm.

18:41 Quite a few people have been in touch to say they have been to vote this evening. Vicki tweeted us to say: “All quiet at Dodd’s Lane, Gwersyllt polling station by 6pm, just us 2 and the tumble weed… Ok turn out apparently though.” Jeremy also contacted us to say: “Just voted in Rossett, told it had been a very quiet day.”

18:30 Just back in from another zoom around a selection of polling stations… updates and some pics shortly! We stopped off at Maesgwyn on our travels and theme of the day seems to be ‘steady but quiet’. Also had a quick natter with some people in the area who were commenting on the length of the grass in the children’s play area.

17:26 Still a steady stream of people heading to the polling stations. David tweeted us earlier to say when he voted at Ysgol Heulfan in Gwersyllt as 12:30, it was ‘completely empty’.

16:36 We have an update from a Wrexham Council Spokesperson who has told us: “All going well at polling stations across the borough. The turnout looks to be steady and staff at all the stations are doing a great job.” There was reports of one gentleman waiting outside a polling station at 6.45am this morning to vote! In the words of the late Roy Castle #dedication!

16:07  Gareth has been in touch to say that he went to vote in Ruabon at 11am and there were two people leaving the polling station when he arrived. Richard has also tweeted to say that he has been to vote in Coedpoeth and had been told that voting had been ‘steady’ all day.

15:45 Back out and about now, this time up to the second Garden Village polling station in the playgroup. We’re at the halfway point (or roundabouts!) to our live blog and we will be doing this until polls close at 10pm. Later we will also be revealing the results to our ‘straw poll’ from last night.

15:08 Voting has been open for eight hours now and we’re about to head out and about again to some more polling stations around Wrexham. Pete has just tweeted us to say that he had been to vote at Johnstown polling station and there were four people there. He added ‘Busiest I’ve seen it in years’.

14:46 We have just had a chat with a spokesperson from Wrexham Council who have said they are not aware of any issues at polling stations, however there were a few problems earlier this morning with some standing water at some locations.

13:59 Oddly enough we are getting some election feedback, but have had a few mentioning the Zumba banner we pictured below. Perhaps that is the key to voter engagement, have a latin dance workout with every poll?

@wrexham anyone go to that Zumba? How much is a session plz — Welshybird82 (@Welshybird82) May 22, 2014

13:50 Popping past a few more polling stations in town, with one in Caia below. Again, all indications point to a very slow but steady turn out, with a brief speed up around lunchtime. We are keeping an eye on the weather as well due to a storm band heading north, hopefully we will avoid it! 12:55pm Wrexham.com filing an international report now from just over the border in Pulford! Unsurprisingly the overcast weather is there too, plus the quietness of polling stations are mirrored. We are told an afterwork ‘rush’ is expected… 12:15pm: There is grass taking taking place outside the polling station on Marford Hill. Although not a  Euro decision on grass…!

Midday: We have just been to Little Acton polling station. Generally quite quiet, however we have been told that as of midday, 128 people have voted in the area so far.

11:52am: We have just got back from a drive through Garden Village. Spotted a couple of voters at the Kenyon Avenue Institute. However if you don’t fancy voting, there’s also some Zumba advertised as well!      

11:41am: Nearly five hours into our European Election coverage now, so we thought we would give some more general information on the elections. Earlier we mentioned that you can’t take selfies at the election booths, however it is not against the law to photograph yourself outside the polling station. For those who do take photos of themselves at every given opportunity, anyone who inadvertently reveals someone else’s vote could face a £5000 fine or six months imprisonment.

11:15am: Mike has just tweeted us this picture of the polling station at the Church of the Nazerine. Mike said about 20 people were there voting before him.

Don’t forget you can tweet us your pics of your nearest polling station. Or you can email them to [email protected]. Remember though, don’t take selfies or pictures in the polling station itself! 10:55am: Our drive around some of Wrexham’s polling stations continues. Most polling stations seem fairly quiet, with people popping in and out throughout the morning. With lunchtime round the corner, chance it could pick up with people voting on their lunch hour.

1048am: One person has asked us on Twitter: “If you’re doing postal voting can you still drop it off in a polling station instead of through the post.” We have checked and the answer is yes! “You may hand the postal return envelope into one of the polling stations within your County Borough”

10:29am An update direct from Holt, where the big news is there is no rain!

@wrexham it’s 11 minutes past 10 here in sunny (well, not raining!) Holt, and we’ve had 31 voters through the door since 7am! — Caroline Jones (@moonshine17) May 22, 2014

10:28am Its been a quiet start so far to the election, with polling stations we have been in so far being all but empty. This is mirrored on comments we have had, with James saying “I was at Kenyon Avenue at 07:10 it was empty”, matching a observation from Gary saying “Have just been to vote in Gwersyllt, not a soul in there.”

9:52am We are out and about around a damp Wrexham, currently playing ‘spot the voter’… 9:26am A local PCSO has given some selfie guidance, and an update from a quiet damp Rhosddu:

@wrexham the correct and safe way of taking a polling station selfie #justsoyouknow all q in Rhosddu! pic.twitter.com/orRIYVY5vg — PCSO C Hodges (@NWPCHodges) May 22, 2014

9:15am A couple of queries about how to vote have come in – if you are registered to vote you can turn up at your polling station and do not need a polling card. Unreturned postal votes can also be submitted today. Also you do not have to tell people outside the polling station how you voted, nor do you have to give them your card number!

9:01am If you are tedious enough to take ‘selfies’ at every single moment in your life then be careful today while voting. The Electoral Commission has issued this guidance to polling station staff:

The law it is based on is well over 100 years old, and is to prevent others knowing how people have voted. The law is due to change in 2017 to bring it up to date. You can take pictures outside and tweet / email them to us, but anything inside could be risky.

8:35am: We have spotted a few comments  on Facebook and Twitter regarding today’s elections. Just a reminder, you are are voting for the European Elections, not voting your local councillor in or out of power!

8:31am It is often said that the weather can play a big part in elections, so looking ahead today it is due to be dull and rainy throughout until around 9pm. This is the wider radar image showing the main band of rain across the country:

8:00am: Polls have so far been open for an hour and some of us are off out to cast our votes in a bit…. We have also collated the results of our straw poll from yesterday and will reveal the results later on this evening when polls close.

7:00am: And voting for the European Elections has begun! We will be popping out to polling stations around Wrexham today, so if you say us, say hi!

6:59am Welcome to our live coverage for the elections! Polls are due to open in literally just a minute. We will be out and about looking at the election progressing, we will be including your tweets & pictures so remember to email us on [email protected] or tweet @wrexham. Plus just after polls close at 10pm we will have the results of our own straw poll we conducted last night with some ‘fun’ predictions!

You can find our full guide on the elections here, which includes the listings of polling
stations around Wrexham.

THE PARTIES & CANDIDATES

The following parties and related candidates are open to your vote.

• Britain First – Paul Golding, Anthony Golding, Christine Smith, Anne Elstone
• BNP – Mike Whitby, Laurence Reid, Jean Griffin, Gary Tumulty
• Conservative – Kay Swinburne, Aled Davies, Dan Boucher, Richard Hopkin
• Green – Pippa Bartolotti, John Matthews, Chris Were, Rosemary Cutler
• Labour – Derek Vaughan, Jayne Bryant, Alex Thomas, Christina Rees
• Liberal Democrat – Alec Dauncey, Robert Speht, Jackie Radford, Bruce Roberts
• NO2EU – Robert Griffiths, Claire Job, Steve Skelly, Laura Picand
• Plaid Cymru – Jill Evans, Marc Jones, Stephen Cornelius, Ioan Bellin
• Socialist Labour – Andrew Jordan, Katherine Jones, David Lloyd Jones, Liz Screen
• Socialist (GB) – Brian Johnson, Richard Cheney, Ed Blewitt, Howard Moss
• UKIP – Nathan Gill, James Cole, Caroline Jones, David Rowlands

On the Notice Of Poll the candidate information is given in full.