[DanaC]

I heard that they'd run into some technical problems with some of the new machines? Something on the radio news yesterday (I think) Can't remember where this was though. I caught the last little bit of an interview with some electiony official type, before it went back to the anchor.

Thanks for the explanation btw, though I now realise I did know but had forgotten *grins* 'cause i've had this same conversation in another thread. Thinking about it, we do have an equivalent that may not be counted initially, but I'd have to check. We have something called 'proxy votes' which are a very small number of the ballots. Most postal votes are just that, postal votes, and they are opened separately and checked as they come in each day under very similar conditions to the main count. They only count the total votes cast at that stage. They get added to the ordinary ballot papers on the day of the count. Basically,we (candidates and agents) stand about in a big hall with tables, two tellers per table, and the officials bring over box at a time of ballots. The final box that gets poured (literally) onto the table is the postal votes box.