‘Steady trickle’ of Hackney voters in AV ballot

Voters in Hackney will have to wait until late tomorrow to discover whether the way we elect MPs is changing or if the status quo remains.

Council workers will start the task of meticulously counting the votes for and against the alternative vote system tomorrow afternoon after the ballot papers have been verified.

Some 200 town hall employees are braced for the count although early indications suggest they might have a quiet time as voter apathy means there may be few votes to count at the Britannia Leisure centre.

Election experts predicted a result for Hackney up to four hours after counting starts at 4pm.

Across Hackney 78 polling stations are open until 10pm today for the 163,802 registered voters across the two parliamentary constituencies.

A council spokeswoman said so far there has been a “steady trickle” of voters but in the areas where there are higher percentage of postal votes the polling stations have been quieter.

She added that many people tend to vote in the evening after work.