Well, it was a night to remember.
A higher than expected turnout, plenty of spoiled papers,six counts, a request for a recount and a win by 63 votes. Where was the centre of the action? Coatbridge North and Glenboig council by-election of course.
The evening started off fairly innocently. It was largely expected that Labour would romp home in the first round, and even although the turnout was 29% (about 6% higher than expected) noone thought it would get very far. As the papers piled up in Peter Sullivan's box,(Lab), people were already reaching for cups of tea, fags and other refreshments. But at the end of the first count, Sullivan was on 1529, Stubbs (SNP) was on 1276 and yours truly was on 557.
At this point Gavin Whitefield the electoral officer brought over the spoiled and doubtful papers. Some had put an X instead of a 1. Others had put two or three Xs and these were rejected. Then we were shown one that had a '7' written beside Labour and no other mark. We had been told in advance that any number apart from 1 in a box on its own would not be accepted.
'That's a squiggly 1,' said one of the labour supporters hopefully.
'It's a 7!' the rest of us chorused.
Gavin Whitefield rejected it. 'It's a measure of Labour's position with its voters; number 7,' said one of the SNP supporters.
Next paper, 7. Next paper 7. Next paper 7. All rejected. What was going on? Then a paper cropped up with a 5 beside my name, and another with a 4 beside the Green candidate. The penny dropped. Some people were counting the number of boxes down that their candidate was, and writing it in. So I was fifth on the paper order and got a 5, and Sullivan was seventh on the paper order and therefore got 7 beside his name. In all, something like 30 Labour votes were lost to this. Peter Sullivan looked on gloomily, no doubt reflecting that as a maths teacher, he had taught his constituents to count boxes, but not how to use a preference vote.
Onto the deliberately spoiled papers. There were a number of messages on these, some ruder than others, but the agreed favourite was the one that said, 'I could run the country better myself!'
They probably could as well. Gordon, watch out. Someone wants your job..
Second round. Fraser Coats from the SSP was eliminated, and his second preferences transferred. 1 to Hugh Banford; 2 to Stubbs; 8 to myself; 11 to Keane (Greens);13 to Sullivan. 4 were also transferred to the Conservatives. Are there closet Conservatives amongst the Socialists that were letting their inner Tory out, or was it a very clever tactical vote? We'll never know.
Third round. The Green candidate Keane got eliminated and I won the most second preferences off him with 39 votes. I felt a slight pang of guilt, having driven round to the count (just two minutes walk away) and having shopped at Tesco that week and forgotten my life-long bags as usual. Still, I was campaigning against a school being built on a dump and a landfill that wasn't properly sealed, so I reckoned it balanced out.
Fourth round. Hugh Banford, the other independent got eliminated and 218 votes were up for grabs. Stubbs got 50, I got 31 and Sullivan got only 19.
Fifth round. Things were getting serious. Burgess the Conservative was eliminated and Stubbs took 89 votes. Labour surprisingly managed 38 votes at this point. I took 95 votes and my total vote was therefore 730; 18% of the total vote.
Sixth round. Very tense. I was eliminated and my vote divided between SNP and Labour. Stubbs took 250 votes and Labour took 144. This took the vote to; SNP 1696 and Labour 1759. Only 63 votes in it and neither had reached the allocation of 2058. What was going to happen now?
The SNP asked for a recount. Gavin Whitefield refused, because it had been agreed that full recounts could only be requested after each round. As this had not been requested at any stage, he could only permit a bundle count. The two boxes were emptied and the counters flicked through the piles at speed as things grew tenser and tenser. Finally it was confirmed. Labour had won by 63 votes. The relief from the red corner was palpable.
So who were the winners and who were the losers in this? It was a good night for the independents like myself, because we turned the ward into a marginal and made the big boys scrap for it. It was also a good night for the SNP even although they lost. It was a bad night for Labour, who did not expect things to go the whole way in this count. Hopefully it will make them rethink their current policy on St Ambrose and Kilgarth, which has severely hacked off the local people here.
But the biggest winners? The stewards. The count went on until 1.30am which meant they got double time on their pay.
Guys, you owe me and Hugh a pint..
