- Sunday, July 07, 2024
June Thomas’s residence in Northamptonshire has been serving as a polling station for more than half a century now but she herself votes by post.
By: Shubham Ghosh
AS the UK went to the general elections on Thursday (4), an elderly woman in Winwick in Northamptonshire, was preparing for something more than just voting — preparing her house in one of the country’s many polling centres.
June Thomas has been turning her residence into one of the UK’s ‘quirkiest polling stations’, as the BBC reported. However, the 80-year-old would not put any crosses into boxes on her ‘home turf’ on D-Day since she has already given her verdict by post.
Thomas’s house is located in the Daventry constituency, a stronghold of the Conservatives, and it has served as Winwick’s polling station for more than 50 years. In the house-turned-polling centre, the voters tick their boxes in a hallway, located under a floating staircase, the BBC report added.
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The owner, who has resided at the Old School House in Church Road for more than half a century, however, does not go to the hallway to cast her ballot on the election day. She instead goes to the village post box and sends her ballot by mail, the BBC added.
According to Thomas, she was given a postal vote years ago. She used to work as a clerk at a polling station for a local council and got a postal vote since she found it difficult to go home and cast her vote whenever election came.
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She has continued with the practice even as voting takes place at her home today.
“I don’t think I’ve ever voted in my house – even though it’s the polling station,” she told the outlet, adding, “I can see why people might laugh.”
Thomas’s house is not the only unusual polling station. Several voters in the eastern region were set to give their verdict in polling stations set up in pubs, sports clubs and places such as a mobile library, fire station, portable cabin, museum, and others.
In Thelnetham in Suffolk, voters will cast ballots in a village hall which was built in the 1870s. In 2019, however, votes were cast at nearby Thelnetham Windmill, which dates back to the early 19th century, since the village hall was not available.
The Labour Party led by Keir Starmer is expected to win the election and return to power after 14 years, dethroning the Conservatives.
