Election Night Blues

Iain Dale reports that the next Election Night could be longer than just the night: some councils aren't going to be starting their vote counts until the Friday. Which would be fine if there was a valid reason for this - like trying to ensure the accuracy of the vote count. But no. As The Times reports, there is a less edifying reason as to why councils will be counting later:

IT may not be so much a landslide as a slow trickle. Council staff who want to protect their 9-5 existence are threatening to ruin live television coverage of the next general election results by refusing to count the votes on polling day.

Ha. "To protect their 9-5 existence"... the very noblest of causes. Of course, I don't really understand how working one night at the time of every election who spell the end of their 9-5 existence, but there we go. I mean, retailers work every hour God sends over Christmas, but things get back to normal after the festive period. I'm sure it's the same in almost every profession. Working harder or less reasonable hours once in a blue moon doesn't bring your life crashing down around you.

But that's being too nice. No, frankly I think that council staff should get a fucking grip. As flawed and unexciting as elections might be, they still represent the people of this country being able to vocalise some sort of opinion on the ruling elite. And the end result of that election should be heard as soon as humanely possible. Which does mean council staff pulling an all-nighter. Not least because, in case you forgot, we pay the salaries of council staff. Far from accommodating them, we should be demanding that they get us the election result as soon as possible. Knowing who forms the next government of the United Kingdom is a little more important than council staff making sure they can clock out at one minute past five.

If we can know who the next President of the United States of America is over the course of one night - a process that involves counting over one hundred million votes - then we sure as hell should be able to get the result of a UK election overnight. Anything else is, frankly, a bit of an insult to everyone who bothers to vote at the next General Election.