Voting is open in the UK election. This is why we can’t really tell you about it

Voting will open on Thursday morning, local time, in the United Kingdom election, coinciding with a blackout rule over the nation’s media.

After months of being blasted with campaign messages, the millions of voters heading to the polls across the UK are waking up to a day of relative quiet.

The media blackout means Britons will not hear a peep about campaigns or opinion polls on election day from one hour before the polls open, which happens at 7am, or 4pm AEST.

At least on the television or radio.

Unlike Australia where politicians are free to appear in media coverage while voting is underway, in the UK there’s a blackout on broadcasting campaign issues and opinion polls.

The rules aren’t as strict for newspapers or online publications, but like other things in Britain, it’s considered polite to stick to convention.

So while the election gets underway and Britons have until 10pm to cast their votes, there is not much that local media can really say about the candidates, their policies or the polls.   

What is the blackout?

Once the election has been called, the government, its ministers and civil servants are supposed to keep quiet about things that “might have an effect on the election campaign”, according to the UK parliament.

None of it is set out and specifically banned by law.

In classic British fashion it is all instead governed by “convention”, distilled down through institutions, due to a lack of a written constitution that could provide a legal framework.

On top of this, there are other rules that prevent broadcasters from delving too deeply into political issues or candidates from the moment voting places open at 7am local time until they close at 10pm.

The rules are in place so “that broadcast coverage on the day of an election does not directly affect voters’ decision”, the regulator, Ofcom, said. 

Even more oddly, there aren’t any penalties for breaching the guidelines — for the media or those in ministries or the civil service.

University of Sydney media expert Rob Nicholls explained.

“If they did go against the convention, it would would be formalised into a regulation case,” Dr Nicholls told the ABC.

If formal regulations were to come in, it would cause unwanted scrutiny at subsequent elections and so the UK media sticks to the guidelines, he added.

The last newspaper opinion polls were published over the weekend, and as is tradition, many British papers have published what they call “leaders” — an editorial in the paper telling readers which way to vote, Dr Nicholls said.

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How is it different to Australia?

Firstly, in the UK there are no party faithful at polling booths trying to push how-to-vote cards into the hands of everyone pitching up to have their say.

Instead, the focus is on getting people to vote, as it is not compulsory in UK elections.

“In the UK, you’ll find people outside polling stations, but what they’re doing is asking your name,” Dr Nicholls said.

“Each of the political parties has a checklist of the people who said they would vote for them, so you try and see who’s turned out, and those people who haven’t turned out — you go and knock on their door to get them to turn out.”