"Pollster Lord Hayward was reacting to a report issued by Democracy Volunteers, which claimed to observe high levels of ‘family voting’ the Gorton and Denton by-election"
I smell a rat. Lord Hayward is a Conservative politician.
1/🧵independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
"However, Manchester City Council, which is overseeing the by-election, was critical of the organisation for not raising concerns earlier during the day."
These "Democracy Volunteers", never said a thing, during polling. But a ssoon as polls closed they ran to the press.
2/independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
I had never even heard of "family voting" before this report, and it is very clear that they are primarily referring to Asian families. See this below, to make it clear that this is what this is about.
3/hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-1…
However, the claim that they are influencing family members on how to vote is entirely speculative, as to enter a voting booth, to ascertain how people were voting and if they were influenced, would itself be illegal.
4/
It is also worth noting that it was Lord Hayward who was behind the legislation, that outlawed something entirely speculative.
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Most "family voting" undoubtedly occurs around the dining table and the living room. It has been noted for a long time, that a strong indicator of how someone votes, are their parents and family.
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The concern here, is how those who supposedly observed this, did nothing to alert election officials at the time, but then ran straight to the press, where these claims have been widely reported, giving succour to Reform.
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As I say, it is entirely speculative, even if more than one person entered the booth, that one family member, is influencing the vote of another. This claim seems suspiciously like a pre-emptive attempt to blame a Green victory on polling malpractice.
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However, given that polling indicates women and young people are far more likely to vote Green, it doesn't make sense that a patriarchical head of the family, would be trying to coerce them to vote Green.
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Let me propose a counter hypothesis, that Democracy Volunteers were coerced into believing that they had witnessed an unusually high level of "family voting" by strongly opinionated members.
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People might say, my hypothesis is entirely speculative, and where is my evidence. I would say, the same about the claims of the Democracy Volunteers. No evidence, and purely speculative.
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Let me look into my crystal ball and predict that if the Green Party win this by-election, that Nigel Farage and the other Reform gobshites, will be claiming that they only lost because of electoral malpractice. But if they win, they'll forget all about it.
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