I am tired.  I stayed up quite late watching results coming in, giving the odd cheer, and the odd drawing of breath.  When I eventually fell to sleep there was no obvious end in sight.

And now we are in the position of having a hung parliament.  This is different to a hanged parliament, which I suspect is what we would all prefer.

So what happens now?

In the UK we use a First Past The Post voting system.  Since no party has a clear majority deals will need to be done to see who can run the country.  The size of the deals will depend on the final figures, which will take quite some time to come through yet.  If a deal can’t be reached we may have to vote again.

There is no doubt though that something must change.  In order to form a stable government, one of the larger parties may well have to go cap in hand to the Liberal Democrats.  This means that Voting Reform is likely to be the big issue of the next few days.  Labour have already committed to electoral reform – favouring Single Transferable Vote, whilst the Liberal Democrats prefer Proportional Representation.  Even the Conservatives have said that they are not totally opposed to electoral reform – though rumblings from the party faithful suggests this is never going to happen!!

The following gives a feel for the two voting systems proposed:

Single Transferable Vote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote

Proportional Representation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation

You will see that there is some cross-over between the two.

Which do I support.  I don’t really know.  All I know is that something needs to change to make this a fairer system.

The other thing that amazes me, in this time of computers and internet and technology is that we still use a paper based ballot system, and that this caused so many problems last night when people who had queued for two hours or more were turned away from the Polling Stations because the rules state that if you do not have a ballot paper in your hand before10.00pm, you cannot vote.

Now I have a neat idea to fix this.  Nothing new, but simple.

Let’s give everyone a Polling Card with a barcode on it.  Instead of paper lets use sealed electronic units that can scan the barcode and then allow people to press a button to vote.  The sealed units can then be gathered to the counting hall, and plugged in to a server to stream off the data and analyse the results.  Postal votes would still have to be hand counted, but everything would be simpler and smoother.

When I suggested this people raised security concerns – what happens if someone intercepts the polling cards?  Well, under the current system all you have to do is present your polling card and confirm your name and address (printed on the polling card) to get a ballot paper.  How is my system any different?  Polling officers can then make random identity checks to ensure the validity of the votes, and a tamper proof security tag placed over the port that allows the voting machines to be hooked to the server would ensure integrity of the vote data.

Just an idea.

No matter what happens, let us remember that the current government is legally obliged to stay in office until such time as it is clear who will form a new government.  Hey Gordon, if you drag your heels a bit you may get to stay at Number 10 for a little longer.

Well, I have blogged about the election, I have Facebooked (is that a real word?  it should be)  I have tweeted, and tomorrow you get to make your choice.

Below are a list of blogs by the Famous and not so famous which I think are worth a read about this election.

Chris Addison – http://rockandahardplace2010.blogspot.com/2010/05/balladictory.html

Stephen Fry – http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/05/04/how-i-will-vote/

Peter Tate – http://petertate.com/randomthoughts/is-it-really-worth-voting/

Carolyn Phillips – http://www.kcc.org.uk/pages/Voting (my wife)

No matter who you vote for tomorrow – get out and vote.  Let’s see how many people we can get to the polling stations!!!

As the General Election comes around, I note with some surprise that the BNP are standing in this area.

There are many reasons why this troubles me.  I spent some time, when I was younger, abroad.  The thought that whilst I was there I might be treated like a second class citizen because I was not a native did not occur to me.  I liked the fact that I got on with everyone, and going to a school for Overseas Children was a great experience.  It would be great for everyone to try!

So what gives me issues?  The British National Party are a little extreme in their views.  On their home page today it says for instance ‘The British National Party will halt the handout of benefits, education and pensions to foreigners who have not paid into the system’.  What about Brits who don’t pay in to the system?  What about migrants who are in Britain because they are seeking refuge and safety.  Whilst waiting to be allowed to stay in the UK they are not allowed to work.  Should they starve…or go home to where they are in danger.

Also on their front page today ‘The British National Party is the only party which has consistently warned of the dangers posed to Britain and all of Europe through the Islamic colonisation of our lands through the mass immigration policies promoted by the Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties.’  Now I am a Christian, and I am not particularly happy with the way that our freedom to speak out what we believe has been curtailed under the current government, but I also do not feel like my country is at risk of imminent Islamic conversion.  This is all just hate, bile and scaremongering.  I may not be a muslim, but I don’t mind them being here, or freely speaking their minds.

The quotation that comes to mind is ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’ – made by Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the pseudonym Stephen G. Tallentyre in The Friends of Voltaire.

OK, so here is my big point.  My biggest fear is that the BNP will get seats due to apathy among the electorate.  At the European Elections they gained seats in the European parliament and it seems the main reason is because lots of moderate, sensible people failed to vote.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Take it away Mitch Benn – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ4ZM-cDid0