DAY 21: There the pencil of democracy awaits...

Did you know that 22,457 people in North Devon and Torridge will be voting in this general election before the election campaign ends?

That's the number of postal voters in the two districts.

I know a number of these people will be elderly or disabled or perhaps away from North Devon on polling day.

I would not readily give up the excitement of walking to the local polling station, collecting my ballot from the slightly-flushed person at the trestle table, and then going to the plywood booth in the cool hush of a parish hall evening...

There the pencil of democracy awaits!

The constituency boundaries have changed (some wards have gone into a new Mid Devon constituency), making it difficult to compare elector numbers of previous years, although the number of postal voters has increased overall.

This year in North Devon there are 74,508 "regular" voters and 10,211 postal voters, a total of 84,719.

In Torridge there are 63,684 "regular" voters and 12,246 postal voters, a total of 75,930.

Some people do not vote at all. As the cliche runs: if you don't vote, the politicians can happily ignore you. I bet a lot of the people who don't vote are the sort of people who think all politicians are charlatans. Not voting for that reason is a cop out, isn't it?

Turnout was historically low in 2001 and 2005.

People in the know in North Devon have been telling me they expect another low turnout this year.

I wonder if they're wrong; I get the feeling this will be the highest turnout since 1992 because the campaign has been energised by the leaders' debates and the fact Labour have been in power for 13 years.

I also get the feeling there is a bit of "love them or hate them" mood about our local candidates, which could bring out a fair few negative votes. As ever, the tactical vote will be major.

Since 1983 the largest turnout in the two constituencies was in 1992, when 84.36% of electors voted in North Devon compared to 81.47% in Torridge.

In 1997, the year of the Labour landslide, turnout dropped to just about 77% in both constituencies, meaning almost a quarter of electors didn’t vote at all.

That dropped again in 2001 when North Devon had a 68.3% turnout and Torridge had 70.5%. And at the last election, in 2005, turnout was 68.19% in North Devon and 70.47% in Torridge.

Before 1983 turnout locally was typically above 80%, which was only slightly higher than the national average.

Whatever the turnout it's going to be a nail-biting finish at the North Devon leisure centre in the early hours of May 7 when the results are declared.