Behind the scenes with Labour on the final day of election campaigning
- Text by Michael Segalov
- Photography by Theo McInnes
There are quite a few myths about what happens on a general election polling day, that day once every five years (well, supposedly) when us voters decide who’ll govern us for the years ahead.
The most common mistake is that campaigning comes to an end the night before voting opens. Yes, party leaders make their final impassioned pitches and bring national activity to an end, and the broadcasters due to regulations have little to say.
But up and down the country party activists are going into overdrive, the final push is arguably the most important 24 hours in the long and arduous battle being fought parliamentary candidates up and down the UK.
All those doors knocked, intelligence gathered, working out the issues that matter and the confirmation of names. For weeks, often longer, local campaigners have been working tirelessly to draw up as much information as they can. And on election day, it’s all about getting voters to their polling booth. Its’ all well and good to win the arguments, deliver leaflets and change hearts and minds, but unless voters whack their X in a box then it’s pretty much a waste of time.
So while voting might just take a moment of your time, a little longer if there’s a queue, tens of thousands of volunteers have spent today working hard, trying to get you to vote. And nowhere has this been truer than in the tightest of marginals. It’s in these seats that elections are won or lost, where majorities are as close as they come.
We tagged along with Guardian columnist Owen Jones as he hit up some of London’ s hardest to call seats: Brentford and Isleworth, Ealing Central and Acton, Westminster North, Battersea and Tooting, as campaigners went in hard in the final hours. From seasoned campaigners to those campaigning for the very first time, unprecedented numbers took time today with the hoping of getting the vote out for Labour. Now we just have to wait and see…
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