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The election begins
The campaigning is all but over and the voting has begun, as Barnet residents visited more than 100 polling stations around the borough today.
In two portable offices in a restaurant car park in Selvage Lane, Mill Hill, the voting booths were relatively quiet this morning, as a smattering of residents took time off work to get their votes in.
Barnet Council chief executive Leo Boland visited the station in his capacity as the borough's returning officer, the official in charge of the logistics of the election, and said he anticipates a "relatively high" turn out.
"Last time it was about 38 percent," he said. "I couldn't give precise figures but my suspicion is it will be higher than that this time."
He also said that thousands of residents have elected to use a postal vote.
"We issued 34,000 postal ballots to people out of 200,000-odd registered voters and they'll still be coming in today. We've had about 20,000 back."
The Conservative candidate for the council's Hale ward by-election, 21-year-old Tom Davey, was at the polling station in Selvage Lane all morning, after a 5am start canvassing voters.
He said he believes the scales in Hale were tipping towards his party, perhaps predictably, but also said a "surprising" number of people told him they had voted for the BNP.
Among the people exercising their democratic rights were first-time voters Chris Evangelou and Antony De Souza, both 18 and from Edgware. They both also voted Labour.
Mr De Souza said: "I think they've got a lot more experience than the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats and I like the way they're running things at the moment."
The Conservative party appeared to be more popular amongst older voters, including 74-year-old Sonnie Bennet.
"I voted Conservative all the way through. I think we need a big change. Pensioners have to pay council tax and we only get a couple of pounds pension.
"There's too many forms to fill out these days, too many laws and regulations. The majority of people are fed up with that. We're being repressed in a rather nasty way."
The results of the elections will be released tomorrow.
3:15pm Thursday 1st May 2008
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