Making Your Vote Count

Published on 8 June 2009

Local County and European Elections were completed on Thursday, Friday and Sunday without major problems thanks to the efforts of an army of volunteers. The Elections team of three at Epping Forest District Council was supplemented by scores of extra pairs of hands as voters went to the polls.

More than 200 volunteers staffed 79 polling stations across Epping Forest. Around 37,000 residents voted. Residents of Waltham Abbey and Buckhurst Hill also voted for a new District and Parish Councillor respectively in local by-elections. Polling station staff worked from opening of polls at 7am to the closing of stations at 10pm sharp. Another 80 volunteers began verifying the European Poll and counting the County, District and Parish votes at Theydon Bois Village Hall from 9am on Friday.

Anxious candidates and their political agents watched as every ballot box was opened and verified, the process of checking that the number of votes cast corresponds to the number of ballot papers in each box. European votes were then set aside until Sunday and the volunteers began the task of counting the votes for each party in the seven local County Council Divisions of Epping Forest District. Not everyone voted in polling stations on Thursday. Many residents now prefer the convenience of postal voting. Their votes were added to the rest at Theydon Bois.

Nine separate political parties and independent candidates stood for election to the Epping Forest Divisions of Essex County Council. The results were announced by the Epping Forest Returning Officer Ian Willett at around 4pm on Friday.

With a maximum of seven candidates in the Buckhurst Hill and Loughton South Division, the County Council ballot papers looked very simple compared to the forms facing counters for the European elections on Sunday.

The task at the Epping Forest count was to determine the votes cast for each group of candidates and relay these to the Regional Returning Officer at the Regional Elections Centre in Huntingdon, where they were added to all the other votes cast across the region.

Fifteen political parties fielding ninety-two candidates stood for election to the Eastern Region of the European Parliament based in Strasbourg and Brussels. The region stretches from Essex up into East Anglia and westward as far Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Unlike the traditional ‘first past the post’ system of domestic elections, voters placed their cross for parties with up to seven representatives on the ‘list system’ of proportional representation.

District Councillor Penny Smith, Chairman of Epping Forest District Council wrapped up proceedings with thanks to all the staff and volunteers for their fantastic efforts. Look at our comprehensive online results services to see where your candidate or party came.

The results for all elections on 4 June 2009 can be found from the links below.

• European Parliamentary Eastern Region election results pdf (149 KB)

• County Council election, District and Parish Council by-election results

The figures below show the results for the Epping Forest District and the Eastern Region for the European Parliamentary election held on 4 June 2009.

Electorate
Epping Forest District 95,642 turnout 38.11%
Eastern Region 4,252,669 turnout 38.01%

Animals Count
Epping Forest District 327 votes 0.90%
Eastern Region 13,201 votes 0.82%

BNP
Epping Forest District 2,863 votes 7.86%
Eastern Region 97,013 votes 6.00%

Christian Party
Epping Forest District 545 votes 1.50%
Eastern Region 24,646 votes 1.52%

Conservatives
Epping Forest District 12,914 votes 35.43%
Eastern Region 500,331 votes 30.95%

English Democrats
Epping Forest District 923 votes 2.53%
Eastern Region 32,211 votes 1.99%

Jury Team
Epping Forest District 129 votes 0.36%
Eastern Region 6,354 votes 0.40%

Liberal Democrats
Epping Forest District 4,113 votes 11.28%
Eastern Region 221,235 votes 13.69%

NO2EU
Epping Forest District 364 votes 1.00%
Eastern Region 13,939 votes 0.86%

Pro Democracy LIBERTAS
Epping Forest District 209 votes 0.57%
Eastern Region 9,940 votes 0.61%

Socialist Labour Party
Epping Forest District 226 votes 0.62%
Eastern Region 13,599 votes 0.84%

The Green Party
Epping Forest District 2,355 votes 6.46%
Eastern Region 141,016 votes 8.73%

The Labour Party
Epping Forest District 2,558 votes 7.02%
Eastern Region 167,833 votes 10.38%

United Kingdom First
Epping Forest District 687 votes 1.88%
Eastern Region 38,185 votes 2.36%

UKIP
Epping Forest District 7,761 votes 21.29%
Eastern Region 313,921 votes 19.42%

Peter Edward Rigby
Epping Forest District 194 votes 0.53%
Eastern Region 9,916 votes 0.61%

Rejected Ballot Papers
Epping Forest District 280 votes 0.77%
Eastern Region 13,164 votes 0.82%

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