Only one in six people in Nantwich voted in the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner election, it has emerged.
The count for the election is due to get underway this afternoon (November 16) in Warrington.
Polling took place between 7am and 10pm yesterday (November 15)
But figures just released by Cheshire East Council suggest just a 16.6% turnout in the Cheshire East borough.
Overall, in Cheshire the turnout was even lower at 14%.
Some force areas in the UK are reporting turnouts as low as 10%.
Some schools in Cheshire East had to close yesterday to allow the elections to take place.
Many have criticised the election, saying not enough has been done to publicise its importance.
Many others don’t agree with with the new policy of a single appointed commissioner taking charge of a police force.
In Cheshire, there are five candidates vying for the role, with four attached to political parties.
These are Ainsley Arnold, of Liberal Democrats, Louise Bours, of UK Independence Party, John Dwyer, of the Conservatives, John Stockton, of Labour, and Sarah Flannery, the only Independent candidate.
An announcement on the winner is due at around 3pm today (November 16)
We both handed our voting papers into our polling station without voting. I told the poor bored girl behind the desk “we shall not be voting because we have had NO info”. Not even a page in to local paper while a cat stuck up a tree seems to be more inportant…….a total waste of money and time!!!!!
I didn’t vote, and it was protest rather than apathy because:
a) The information we got on the candidates was woeful
b) What manifestos we did get we’re bland and uninspiring, with negligible candidate differences
c). Politicians of all hues just have not grasped that as a breed, they are universally despised for their self-interest and complete lack of empathy for public opinion
Two predictions; it won’t be long until the first commissioner scandal, and the innocent will continue to be plagued whilst the villains prosper.
Cynical? Maybe, but what can possibly have caused this attitude?