THE pleadings from the main political parties urging people to 'get out and vote' seemed to be working in the South East Cornwall constituency yesterday.
In Liskeard the tellers manning the two polling stations said it was the busiest they had never known it for the first few hours in the morning, and people turning up to vote were surprised to find themselves in a queue.
At Saltash Mrs June Mills, who has been an election teller for 30 years, said at the St Nicholas and St Faith station that 'business' was brisk with a steady stream of voters. The trend seemed to be reflected throughout the constituency, from the small village hall stations, to the main towns.
There were also reports of much interest shown from 18 year olds, eager to exercise their right to vote for the first time.
Caradon District Council's electoral services reported that queues forming at Liskeard's Welsey School Room station, prompted the delivery of more polling booths in the morning, to help alleviate some congestion.
However, it was pointed out, that this station was dealing with three elections. As well as the General and County Council elections, voters in the South Ward of the town, were also having a Caradon District Council by election, due to the resignation of Councillor Mrs Jeanne Rees.
Voting by post was also up, with Caradon recording figures of 3,550 for the parliamentary election, and 2,990 for the County Council election.
The District Council took some swift emergency action on Tuesday, when phone calls from worried voters in Liskeard South saying they had not received their polling cards, started the alarm bells ringing. It was discovered that 1,500 members of the electorate in the ward had indeed been missed out.
A Caradon spokesperson said immediate action was taken and all the cards were in the post on Tuesday night. As a back up, explanatory letters were also issued and picked up by special arrangement with the Post Office in the afternoon. These informed the prospective voters that they were on the Register of Electors, and did not need an official Poll Card to vote. They are only produced for information purposes only.