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Why does Sunderland always race to declare its general election results first?

Sunderland will be first to announce its general election results on Thursday night - but why is this the case? - PA
Sunderland will be first to announce its general election results on Thursday night - but why is this the case? - PA

With less than 24 hours to go until the fate of our government is revealed, all eyes aren't on the Conservatives, Labour Party members, or Lib Dems, but the city of Sunderland.

Sunderland, you say? Sunderland, indeed. The North East city has raced to declare its general election results before anyone else for the last 27 years, with near-perfect success.

It's actually come first in the outcome speed-erboard since 1992, bar a brief dip in 2017 when its results were revealed seven minutes after Newcastle upon Tyne Central's.

Nonetheless, Sunderland still holds the title for the fastest-ever declaration. In 2015, its results were declared just 48 minutes after the polls closed.

With voting centres open from 7am to 10pm on polling day, it's a pretty astounding pace. That year, Sunderland Central managed to count votes in roughly 5% of the time it took for constituents to submit them.

As you might imagine, it's a complex operation — one involving extra thin ballot paper, specialist ballot counters, and over 1,000 council workers and volunteers.

Here's everything you need to know about Sunderland's record-breaking declarations, the drive to keep its counters at the helm of the conversation, and how they are expected to fare in the December 2019 general election.

Why does Sunderland announce its results first?

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Sunderland council's former head of elections said the decision to speed things up came about in 1992. Torbay held the record at the time, declaring results around 11.45pm, but Sunderland set its sights higher.

Though there has never been an official incentive to come first, Torbay found a certain level of fame as the fastest, and Sunderland was already riding high on civil pride — the election coincided with Sunderland FC reaching the final of the FA Cup.

The rest, as they say, is history. Sunderland has been top of the league for a millennial lifetime and council CEO Dave Smith said preparations for the day typically start months in advance, with the target time reduced each year.

Interestingly, Labour strongholds like Sunderland also have a lot to do with both speedy results and Labour's early leads.

Though there are exceptions, urban areas tend to vote Labour while rural areas vote Tory. And, as you'd expect, it’s easier to get results from densely-populated city than it is from sparse rural towns.

In 2017, Smith said: "We’re going to put our hand to the wheel and push on and do it quickly, so everyone does their best and we can finish relatively quickly.

"Obviously like everywhere else, we’re controlled by the regulation of how a count must be conducted, so we work within those parameters, but we look for the best possible processes to do it.”

How does Sunderland prepare to announce election results?

With a ballot counting team of over 1,200 people, Sunderland makes every effort to ensure the count runs smoothly.

In the past, its council workers, volunteers, and local bank workers (notably, experts in the precise handling of important papers) have even put on dress rehearsals.

As an additional aid, the council went as far as making ballot papers thinner – an 80gsm paper rather than a 100gsm paper – so they were easier to handle.

Of course, election night is not without its challenges. Some of Sunderland's polling stations are as far as eight miles away from its Silksworth counting venue, and ballot boxes aren't particular easy to transport.

As a precaution, the council gets its volunteers to practice running and passing a paper-packed box before kitting them out in special gloves and T-shirts.

The most extreme measures, arguably, relate to data analysis. According to insiders, the team sifts through a decade-plus of by-the-minute ballot box arrivals to fix any shortcomings.  If a particular stretch of road had traffic lights on at the time, they'll work out whether they will affect the race again.

If so, they'll reroute them.