You can see David Cameron’s reaction below:

Only two more elections to go this week, the by-election in Glenrothes on Thursday, and Labour look set to lose in the General Election in New Zealand. Somehow I doubt I will wait up for either of those results!

Now that the polls have closed in Virginia here they are:

Ballot Paper

Ballot Envelope

Instructions

Update: Due to the possibility of late ballots being accepted the ballot paper will not appear until the situation has become clearer.

Just a reminder that we are holding our monthly ward surgery in the Readibus outside Amersham Road Community Centre from 10am - 12pm on Saturday.

You can view video clips from the Party Conference in Birmingham, the latest Party Political Broadcast and take a read of our policies.

Voting by secret ballot is in my opinion is one of the key principles of a modern democracy – so I was surprised when I saw an absentee ballot for the US Presidential election from the state of Virginia. I think there is a lot for the US, and Virginia, to learn from how we run postal voting (although ours still isn’t perfect, and probably never will be).

If I was to be voting in this election in Virginia I would have a number of concerns:

• The email containing the ballot papers contained:
  • A ballot paper
  • A set of instructions
  • A DIY fold along the lines ’security’ envelope, with voter identification on it.

  Postal voting in the UK contains two envelopes. The first containing the ballot paper, the second containing the first envelope and a declaration of identity. The ballot paper envelope and declaration of identity are kept separate for a reason - the second envelope is opened and an identity check takes place, the ballot paper envelope is then opened separately to ensure the secrecy of the ballot.
  

  However the instructions for the voting in Virginia contained these instructions for the ’security’ envelope:
  

  Now you have two options. If you want to ensure maximum privacy for your voted ballot, secure the flaps on the folded Security Envelope using tape or glue (be careful that you don’t glue the Security Envelope to the ballot!). If you are less concerned about the privacy of your voted ballot, then you may just leave the Security Envelope as it is.

  After reading this and seeing the ’security’ envelope with voter identification on it, whether it’s sealed or not, you cannot guarantee that the vote cannot be tied to a particular voter. It also seems odd that they are not promoting “maximum privacy” as a matter of course. In this day and age surely they can come up with a better, but still simple, voting system!

• The ballot was sent via email; hence the entire ballot paper including the official stamp is printed and could be very easily duplicated, although any fraud should come up in checks during the count. I understand the reason behind this is to encourage younger voters and those that wouldn’t normally bother to cast a vote, but it is open to massive abuse if not controlled correctly and would be very hard to track down any perpetrators of the fraud.
• The email from the local County in Virginia was sent on the 23^rd September; however the next day another email was sent telling voters to ignore the previous email as it omitted the House of Representative and Senate candidates. Surely these should be checked before sending them out, it’s possible that the paper versions could have had the same problem, and equally possible that some people have already returned the ballot before seeing the second email.

David Cameron mentioned it in his Conference speech yesterday:

Yesterday the courts ruled that Gurkhas who want to come and live in Britain should be able to.

They risked their lives for us and now we must not turn our backs on them.

I say to the government: I know there are difficult questions about pensions and housing but let’s find a way to make it work…

Do not appeal this ruling.

…let’s give those brave gurkha soldiers who defended us the right to come and live in our country

It was a great experience, particularly being in Symphony Hall to watch David Cameron’s superb speech. There were numerous policy announcements, including a two year council tax freeze to help families cope with the cost of living – saving a typical Band D household over £200 a year. I’m sure this would come as welcome news to Reading residents when we are suffering in the current financial crisis.

I was particularly delighted that Eric Pickles also announced that weekly bin collections would also be reinstated for councils that want it, something that came up again and again during the local election campaign.

If you missed David Cameron’s speech you can see it below:

1 Luke Akehurst
2 Waendel Journal
3 Paul Scully
4 James Cleverly
5 Bob Piper
6 Andrew McConnell
7 Faulkner Journal
8 Bristow Blog
9 Iain Lindley
10 Councillor Terry Kelly
11 Matt Dean
12 Andrew Burns’s Really Bad Blog
13 Antony Little
14 Blog Dafael
15 Fair Deal Phil
16 Fraser Macpherson
17 Mike Flower
18 Brian Robson
19 Steve Allison
20 Monkey with a Blue Rosette
21 My Right Wing Agenda
22 Roger Evans MLA
23 Antonia Bance
24 Cameron Rose
25 Aitken’s Edinburgh
26 Dave Luckett
27 Maida VaLe Conservatives
28 Phil Taylor
29 Gwilym Euros Roberts
30 Spin Blog

I was standing next to a chicane and could not believe how fast they came through, despite trying to cheer Olympic gold medal winner Bradley Wiggins and the rest of the Brits in the field, I must admit they went so fast I have absolutely no clue who I saw!