Scottish Independence Referendum Ballot Counters 'Were High-Fiving Yes Votes And Booing Nos'

Indyref Ballot Counters 'Were High-Fiving Yes Votes And Booing Nos'

Members of a Scottish council team counting ballot votes for the referendum were replaced after they booed “No” votes and celebrated over “Yes” votes, it has emerged.

According to local reports, the council staff were replaced on referendum night after reportedly being seen giving thumbs-up signs and high-fiving each other when they opened ballots backing independence.

After witnessing the behaviour, Labour and Liberal Democrat party agents made a joint complaint to the counting officer in in Dingwall, Ross-shire, BBC News reported.

NO ballots are stacked on a table during the Scottish independence referendum count

Highland Council has confirmed it received complaints about the group and that they were replaced during the count, but refused to say if further disciplinary action would be taken, the Herald Scotland reported.

The result from Dingwall was delayed following a fatal accident, and was the last in Scotland to be declared, by which time a victory for the union had already been confirmed.

The local authority returned a No vote in the referendum after receiving 87,739 No votes and 78,069 for Yes.

The emergence of the inappropriate behaviour follows the news that a bizarre conspiracy surrounding the result of of the referendum is being investigated by police, it has been reported.

The YouTube user, called "John Son of David," describes in the post how he received an anonymous phone call telling him to collect a carrier bag full of "Yes ballots" that were apparently chucked away in Glasgow.

Riffling through a plastic bag he can be heard saying "you couldn't make this shit up… somebody has intercepted these postal votes."

The Herald newspaper was told by a source close to the man that Police Scotland are now investigating.

A Police Scotland spokesman told the newspaper: "We have been made aware of this matter and are looking into it."

Following Scotland's rejection of independence, conspiracy theories regarding the result were littered on the web, while pro-indy campaigners gathered outside the Scottish Parliament this weekend to demand a re-run of the September 18 referendum.

But Mary Pitcaithly, the chief counting officer for the referendum, has already said she was satisfied that all counts throughout Scotland were properly conducted and scrutinised.

However, despite acceptance from Alex Salmond that the outcome of the vote was the "the democratic verdict of the people of Scotland", a petition saying the outcome of the vote was rigged has garnered close to 100,000 supporters.

It may have been the largest turnout in UK history with a majority vote of ‘No’, but thousands are demanding a re-vote.

The petition states:

Countless evidences of fraud during the recent Scottish Referendum have come to light, including two counts of votes being moved in bulk into a No pile, Yes votes clearly being seen in no piles and strange occurences [sic] with dual fire alarms and clear cut fraud in Glasgow. We demand a revote be taken of said referendum, where each vote shall be counted by two individuals, one of whom should be an international impartial party without a stake in the vote.

The allegations of votes being miscounted also refers to this video that nationalists have said "proves" the referendum was rigged:

But the conspiracy theory was promptly dismissed by Yes Dundee who said it was nothing to worry about…

Close

What's Hot