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Vintage votes: Bygone ballots at Dundee polling stations

Hopeful candidates waiting for voters outside Forthill Primary in Dundee during the Scottish regional elections on May 8 1986.
Hopeful candidates waiting for voters outside Forthill Primary in Dundee during the Scottish regional elections on May 8 1986.

Dundonians will be joining people across Scotland in heading to the polls this week as they cast their votes in the Scottish Parliament Election.

Clerks will be hoping the day goes without incident when the doors open at 7am, unlike the 1910 General Election when Suffragettes protested at Dundee High School polling station.

It was clearly the polling station to be seen at, because Clementine Churchill – wife of Sir Winston who was the city’s MP from 1908 to 1922 – was photographed there the same week.

But it wasn’t until 1918 when the Representation of the People Act actually gave some women the right to vote after a hard-fought campaign.

Now everyone over the age of 16 has the right to vote in Scotland, and after a turbulent year of politics in a pandemic, it is hoped there will be a good turnout at the polls.

We’ve taken a look at our archives of vintage voting where Dundonians made their voices heard at the ballot boxes.

These ladies were making sure to exercise their right to vote at Rockwell High School in Dundee during the Scottish local elections in 1974.

They were the first elections held after sweeping changes to Scottish local government which replaced counties, burghs and districts with 53 district and regional councils.

These women were on their way to polling booths for the General Election on June 9 1983.

It was a year that saw a decent turnout in Dundee with more than 74% of citizens turning out in both seats.

In Dundee East, the SNP’s Gordon Wilson held on to his seat, while Labour’s Ernie Ross also retained his seat in Dundee West.

But overall, it was the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher that won a landslide victory to remain the ruling party in Britain.

These candidates were vying for the vote of this woman as she approached the polling station at Morgan Academy in 1984.

The occasion was the Scottish district council elections and saw the City of Dundee held by Labour, reflecting the national mood where Labour won 45.7% of votes across Scotland.

Candidates awaited voters outside Eastern School in Broughty Ferry when it was turned into a polling station for the day during the Scottish regional elections on May 3 1990.

Voters were deciding whose name to put a cross next to on the ballot paper as they chose their councillors for Tayside Regional Council.

Later that night, polling station clerks were busy at the Caird Hall as they counted the returned ballots for the regional elections.

It was the first election after the controversial poll tax was introduced in 1989, and the national results reflected its unpopularity in Scotland as Labour held on to the majority of seats.

Voters and election agents lined up outside Grove Academy for the UK General Election on April 9 1992.

In Dundee West, Ernie Ross held onto the seat for Labour for a fourth consecutive election scooping almost half of the vote.

John McAllion also held Dundee East for Labour, but Dundee was at odds with the rest of the UK.

Although Labour had been polling slightly ahead, the Conservative Party, this time under John Major, enjoyed another majority – their fourth victory since 1979.

Candidates waited nervously at the count at the Caird Hall during the regional council elections on April 6 1995.

Fresh from another shake-up in local authorities, this was the first vote for the new unitary Dundee City Council, which Labour won with a comfortable majority.

And in more recent years, dogs at polling stations has become a phenomenon, trending on social media as voters leave their pooches outside while they cast their votes.

But the trend was bucked in Dundee on polling day in June 2017 as it was a cat that attracted attention outside Forthill Primary School polling station.

Although the cat took up residence in a Labour board, it was the SNP that held Dundee East and West that year.