Read on Twitter
MSPs took evidence today on the plans for next year's Scottish Parliament #sp21 election. The plans, the mitigations, the emergency measures, the voting arrangements, the dates etc. Lots to consider. There was a very brief exchange about voting days + religious observation...
... the consensus seems to be that, barring a v significant lockdown, the election will go ahead on a hybrid model of increased postal votes and in-person voting across two consecutive days...
... every panel of witnesses said the preference would be for two consecutive days. A concern was raised about the disruption to schools if used as polling stations - esp if they had to close for 2 days not one.
There is strong public support for voting in person to be kept safe and available. The Electoral Management Board said that polling stations would be "safer than supermarkets" in terms of the measures put in place.
Local election planning teams are looking at the suitability of polling stations in terms of space, ventilation etc. It wasn't made clear if they've been asked to look actively at alternatives to schools as potential venues.
An all postal vote was agreed to be a measure of absolute last resort - there is real concern about disenfranchisement. They would also need at least six months of planning - so a delay in the date until at least November 2021.
Asked if a two-day vote over the weekend had been considered, the Minister referenced religious observance at the weekend as a reason not to do this. There was also the reasonable suggestion that different working practices probably made weekday voting more accessible.
But, the Minister was then challenged by Gil Paterson "isn't Friday a religious day, also?". And all credit to him, he apologised for the oversight. but then said "but the individuals caught by that would be able to vote on the Thursday".
My question... (and thanks for reading this far) is - surely that defeats the argument of not holding weekend voting. Is there a religious grouping who would be unable to vote on Saturday OR Sunday?
Weekend voting could be conducted in schools without any disruption to education. We know that schools are generally located close to communities and they tend to be large buildings with space for the queueing public.
There's probably aspects I'm missing in all of this - established processes, maybe keeping the current date and adding one (Thurs + Friday) is easier than moving both dates to Saturday + Sunday. If anyone has insight, would love to understand better the thinking...
I'll be blogging something factual and impartial on this later today and will post a link. There's a genuine desire to get this right and give the greatest amount of certainty to voters, to candidates and officials.
