Elections: Weekend Voting

Debate between Lord Wallace of Saltaire and Baroness Heyhoe Flint

Tuesday 1st July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

I merely reiterate that not all schools that are used as polling stations have to close entirely for the day of polling. There is some disruption, so it is a problem, but it is not a universal problem.

[Baroness Heyhoe Flint (Con)]

My Lords, if one is looking for a two-day voting system, perhaps all sports venues could open on a Sunday. It would increase attendances; the venues could offer free tickets to youngsters; and people would discover the joy of voting and the joy of sport—at the risk, of course, of offending my right reverend friends on my left.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, all sorts of suggestions have been made about where people might vote, including at supermarkets. One objection to choosing a particular chain of supermarkets in which people might vote is that, as we all know, there are certain gradations of supermarket. Depending on which supermarket one chose, one might possibly bias voting in one direction or another.