People in Brighton and Hove are being asked for their views on potential changes to where they vote.
A public consultation is under way on the city council website in response to issues raised during recent elections.
The aim of the consultation is to find new polling places where there are not enough, make sure they are accessible to disabled people and minimise disruption to schools.
Election ward boundaries and the parliamentary constituencies are not part of the review.
There are specific questions relating to each of the council wards.
Options include changing one of the Hove Park ward polling places from Cottesmore St Mary’s Catholic Primary School to Hove Rugby Club.
In St Peter’s and North Laine ward, the Brighthelm Centre is another suggestion instead of St Paul’s CofE School.
Brighton Town Hall is offered as an alternative to Middle Street School.
Hundreds of parents signed a petition earlier this year, which was presented to Brighton and Hove City Council’s Policy, Resources and Growth Committee in July.
The petition was started by Downs Infant School parent Faye Brockwell and received strong support from the governors of Cottesmore St Mary’s Primary in Hove.
Arthur Gallagher, the vice chair of governors at Cottesmore, presented the petition to councillors.
He said that parents were fined for taking their children out of school but had already faced finding extra childcare or had to take the day off for the council and European elections.
They may face another polling day this year should the Prime Minister call a general election in October.
A full copy of the consultation document and link to the questions for each ward are found on the city council website at consultations.brighton-hove.gov.uk/jobs/full-review-of-brighton-hove-polling-districts-and.
The deadline for completing the form is Friday 13 September.
Personally I’m OK with our polling station in Patcham hollingbury as long as its security makes sure the voting isn’t tampered with.
I’m OK with mine as well (Rottingdean Coastal, Waldorf School), but for the 2016 referendum they decided to put a Portakabin in East Brighton Park, which wasn’t easy for me to get to (I have some disabilities, which, although EBP is fairly nearby, made it a bit too far and uphill), so had to get a postal vote. This was somewhat galling, since it took a long time to arrive and I then had to trudge round to the (uphill) post box anyway.
I always like going to the polling station, with the stubby, blunt pencils on string and the friendly staff, a system which hasn’t changed since I first got the vote (it was 21 years of age at the time) but in the modern era it would be good if they could figure out a safe and secure system of voting online for those who are less able to get to the station – there must be a lot of those nationwide! I fear,though, that like most of these big IT systems, especially ‘official’ones, it would fall over with the weight of use, get hacked, be open to tampering etc etc.
The problem with a postal vote is, that to ensure it gets to the council in good time – and you never know if it arrived and got counted, unlike putting your paper in the black box – you have to make your decision a bit in advance and you might have changed your mind if you’d had up-to-the-minute info by polling day.