UK General Election - May 7th 2015 (The Official Election Day & Results Thread)

[YL]

I just voted against the Deputy Prime Minister.

There was a short queue.  There weren't any tellers (people who sit outside the polling station and ask you for your registration number so that their party knows you've voted and doesn't knock on your door when they're doing their GOTV in the evening) which surprised me a bit.

[YL]

In 2010 for example, the BBC made a big fanfare of playing Big Ben strike ten as they put out the poll.

Lol.

And when can be official results?

From what I know, every constituency declares their own result at some point after 10pm local time. There are constituencies which take until tomorrow morning or noon to declare, so a UK-wide result should be known tomorrow at some point.

This is correct.  The first results will almost certainly be from the Sunderland constituencies, perhaps an hour or so after the polls close.  Most others will declare some time between about 1am and 6am local time.  A handful will wait until tomorrow to count, and some very close results may also declare very late.  IIRC in 1997 Winchester (where the majority was 2) didn't declare until mid afternoon on the Friday (and of course the result was later declared void and there was a by-election, which, um, wasn't quite as close...).

[YL]

A note about rumours after the polls close: be really really careful about believing these, unless they come from a credible source. And even then don't treat as fact. A lot of false rumours get spread around early on election nights; quite why people bother I have no idea, but they do.

Wasn't there one in 2005 where the BBC picked up some rumour that the Lib Dems had won a Birmingham seat which they actually ended up not being that close in?  I remember wondering afterwards if there'd been some sort of mix up with Yardley.

[YL]

There are stories on Twitter of queues to vote in Liverpool Riverside, of all places.  But I'm always a bit sceptical of turnout rumours.

I just voted against the Deputy Prime Minister.

There was a short queue.  There weren't any tellers (people who sit outside the polling station and ask you for your registration number so that their party knows you've voted and doesn't knock on your door when they're doing their GOTV in the evening) which surprised me a bit.

... so Labour did just knock on my door doing their GOTV.

[YL]

I just went for a short walk, and saw several separate groups of Labour GOTV workers.  I thought I overheard one of them saying they'd got a 65% turnout in the student accommodation in Hallam.

[YL]

YouGov's "exit poll" says: Con 284, Lab 263, LD 31, SNP 48

I fear that's just Peter Kellner's prediction from yesterday.  It looks the same.

(But various sources do seem to be referring to it as a YouGov exit poll.)

[YL]

These two seats seem a lot closer to the consensus before the election than they do to the exit poll, at least to my untrained eye.

True, but apparently the exit poll thought that Labour did OK in the North East, where those seats are.

[YL]

Suggestions that Galloway might be struggling in Bradford West.

[YL]

More possibly dodgy rumours, but suggestions that Labour may have held some of the Edinburgh seats.

[YL]

The projection is obviously incorporating a regional Lab to Con swing in the East Midlands (hence Nottingham South, NE Derbys, Gedling etc.).  But I don't believe the East Midlands is a coherent enough region to have a distinctive regional swing like that.

[YL]

What do results look like for the Greens or Plaid Cymru?

The exit poll has both up one.

Be pretty sceptical of both those.  It isn't as if they did a full exit poll of either Ceredigion or Norwich South.

[YL]

Why does the 538 Live Forecast say Conservatives 272, Labour 271?

They aren't using the exit poll, just their previous forecast and the three declared results.

[YL]

A local journalist in Sheffield says on Twitter that the Hallam count is looking "neck and neck".

[YL]

Terrible result for Labour in Nuneaton.  At this point I'm only staying up for Hallam.

[YL]

LD hold Ceredigion

[YL]

First Scottish result: SNP gain Kilmarnock & Loudoun with 30,000 votes.

[YL]

SNP hold Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Lab hold Llanelli (there was some Plaid ramping there)

[YL]

Lib Dems, who once nearly took Oxford East, have come fourth this time, behind the Greens.

SNP gain Paisley & Renfrewshire South: Douglas Alexander out.

[YL]

Rumours are beginning to appear on Twitter that Clegg has lost.

[YL]

Lab gain Burnley from LD

[YL]

Second seat for the Lib Dems: Westmorland & Lonsdale

[YL]

just want to see Clegg lose before I turn off the stream and focus on this final

The rumours from Hallam have shifted more towards "close" and "possible recount".  So that could be a long time.

[YL]

Random good result for Labour: they've taken Ilford North from the Tories.

[YL]

Lynne Featherstone loses to Labour in Hornsey & Wood Green.

[YL]

Hughes down.

14% swing to Lab there, not even very close.