It's very interesting watching the election results coming in from Scotland. You can watch the live announcements here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-scotland-29130277
No glitz, just local officials standing at a podium reading a script for the vote totals, and the totals are based on total counts, not sampling. I'm actually enjoying that.
The counts I've seen have been more strongly opposed to independence than I've been expecting. Contrary to late estimates, it's looking like a runaway for the status quo, about 56%-44%, although some big cities are yet to be reported.
I'm also struck by the high turnouts. Most of these reporting areas are coming in in the 85-90% range, with some over 90%. I would love to see turnouts like that here. (What would the city council in Ferguson, Mo., look with a 90% turnout, for instance?)
Finally, for Vermont local election officials, and I'm sure I'm not the only justice of the peace who reads GMD, I found it interesting to note that they have the same rule that we do here in Vermont: marking your ballot in a way that identifies the voter invalidates the ballot.
Stay tuned, but right now it looks like a No result.
Adding up the incoming results… Thus far it looks like:
460,882 YES
575,546 NO
No big cities yet.
Interesting dynamic is that Scotland is politically to the Left. On the national stage they are solid for the Labor Party, locally they vote Scottish National Party (which are social-democrats). This, opposed to the UK government which are headed by the conservatives.
A Yes vote would mean a further Left Scotland, but a further Right (rump) UK. However, it could also lead to a no confidence vote in UK Parliament for David Cameron.