In a renewed bid to bolster waning interest in 'Election 2010', the Electoral Commission have announced that certain polling stations will be opening at the stroke of midnight on polling day, May 6th.
Commission Chair Jenny Watson and her team drew inspiration from the hordes of people queuing outside HMV following the release of 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'. 'We believe that we can capture the imagination of a great number of voters who would ordinarily not be interested in an election, or who might be asleep during normal polling hours, such as computer gamers, virtual lifers and/or the unemployed - a totally untapped seam of potential voters.'
The Commission claims to have chosen polling stations from headcounts taken during the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 games console. 'We considered basing our selection on sales of the iPhone at O2 stores throughout the UK in 2007, but figures were so low we couldn't get a statistically useful measurement', said Mrs Watson.
Keen voters have already set up camp and started their vigil to be the first to enter the polling booths, some three weeks before Election Day. 'I really want to be one of the first to get my hands on a polling card', said one, who declined to give his name in order to prevent postal vote fraud, 'I want to make sure that they don't run out of stock before I get my chance.'
The Commission is also drumming up interest in the democratic process by releasing limited edition voting packs. 'I'm hoping to be able to get one of the Collectors' Editions,' exclaimed one newly converted politics fan, 'it comes in a metal tin with a cloth map showing the campaign headquarters of each candidate, a hardback manifesto and a small pewter candidate figurine - fingers crossed I don't get David Miliband.'
(extra humour added pre-posting courtesy jp1885 - cheers dude!)