Long description

The polling station in the painting is beside a river, perhaps the Thames as it is in Oxfordshire. The voters appear to all be afflicted in one way or another. A one-legged man in a red coat leads the way and is swearing on the Bible under an orange flag. Behind him is a seated voter who may have a mental handicap, beneath a blue flag, his hand also on a book. Behind him a man whispers in his ear. The next voter is being carried up the steps to the polling station and from his appearance may well be dead. Beyond the waiting voters is a broken coach with the shield of Britannia on the door and containing a woman.