RTFM

I’m sorry, but I don’t get this media-spun “election chaos” following the Scottish parliamentary and council elections on Thursday.

The instructions were simple:

• For the Scottish parliamentary election, mark one cross (X) in the Regional List column and one cross (X) in the Constituency column.
• For the council election, write numbers (1, 2, 3…) to express your order of preference for one or more candidates.

I don’t think the organisers could have done more to help people, short of asking people to show their completed ballot papers before putting them in the secret box!

• The system was trialled by the Electoral Commission before the election was called;
• There was wall-to-wall media coverage of how to vote;
• Every house received a leaflet on how to vote;
• The instructions were on the back of the polling card;
• When we went to vote, there was a person at the door of the polling station asking if we understood the voting system or would like it explained. And lots of big pictures;
• And the ballot papers had clear instructions.

What more could have been done?