Voting has many purposes. The most obvious is to elect the candidate the voter wants. Or to keep out the candidate the voter does not want. Voting to express commitment to the democratic system comes lower on the list of reasons. And pushing that commitment further and further away from importance is a deliberate policy of any authoritarian government.
It is much easier to control the democratic element in governance by devaluing the effects of the vote and reducing democratic participation. This is done by replacing elected representatives by parallel administrations, made up of appointees and placemen, that are better funded by the central Executive and subvert the decisions of the elected body - all decisions, not just those disliked and in opposition to central policies. The aim is to drain all power away from democratic choice.
The tactic of making a democratic vote seem a pointless exercise is furthered by deliberate and constant propaganda that there's no point as they're all the same anyway; the voting system makes it impossible to change anything and, the corollary to this, the voting system is being changed or is now too complex and makes it impossible to express a choice. Reports of 100,000 spoiled ballots on ballot papers deliberately obfuscated, unwanted effects from second and third preferences, there will be a very low turn-out .... all feed into this.
Making voting a daunting undertaking is another ploy. By holding elections on working days, limiting the hours in which votes can be cast in a 24/7 society (certainly in the big cities), siting voting places in unfamiliar environments, ringing the casting of the vote with rules and instructions on minute matters of behaviour and threats of invalidation. The list goes on and on.
The result is that the voters think it's not worth it, they're all the same, I can't make any difference, I'm tired after work, and have things to do this evening, apart from looking after the children, I don't know how to do it and I don't know the place I'm supposed to go and do it in. They want a polling card or something I haven't got, and I'll be in trouble if I spoil the ballot.
It's all done on purpose, all the time, a relentless blizzard of Don't Vote.
Go and vote. Go with a friend, take all the children. Go with the dog and make one of those faintly intimdatory figures outside asking for your polling number when you come out to hold his lead while you're inside. If you feel uncertain about how to vote, ask the people inside to explain it again to you; they will, very pleasantly. Vote for who you fancy and forget the clever footwork. All the votes are counted and, at a level beyond which candidate is actually elected, there is a plebiscite effect. Every vote speaks even if every vote doesn't immediately count.
Don't listen to the detractors and Dementors.
VOTE!
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Everything run by quangos with whims of iron, here in the UK, it seems. And postal voting encouraged in order to make voting fraud easier.
There are reports too that polling cards have not arrived in significant numbers and that voting early if no card has arrived is the best thing as someone else may vote in your name otherwise. A polling card isn't essential but the vote will be given to anyone holding it, unless the rightful owner has got in first and identified themselves (name and addresss is enough, handy to take along a utility bill etc.).
Vote early.....
Why have voting cards not arrived on time? Those concerned have had months to get this aspect sorted out - so no excuses. Is this another drinks party in a brewery scenario, or just deliberate cussedness and obstruction of the democratic process?
All sorts of reasons, Nomad. Sometimes cards are delivered by the mail, sometimes by other companies. Sometimes they are just left at the entrance to multiple occupation buildings or institutions. sometimes they are simply lost in transit, found dumped in bins etc. The thing is, there is nowhere near enough care in the entire delivery system, the compilation of the registers, the transferring of votes to counting centres, the checking on postal votes, etc. the line of accountability all the way through leaks and this is desirable because it allows 'adjustment'.
A vote is a powerful weapon; we should use it and defend it, despite the propaganda that decries it and the choices it enables.
Hello HG.
I appreciate your response to my comment over at Mr. Dale's.
I am a firm proponent of the principle of compulsory voting with an option of a vote for "None of the above". This option would enfranchise all voters who disagree with the major parties.
Our current option is to refrain from voting or to spoil our ballots.
If there were to be a majority for "None of the above", that would deny a mandate to the existing candidates and they would be obliged to re-think and re-engage with the electorate in order to bring about a revision in policy to become more in line with popular opinion.
Government Departments or Councils would still be operated in the interim via the Civil Service.
Currently, I am denied representation as I have little respect or belief in the policies of all the major parties. I would much prefer to vote for an independent but unfortunately they are few and far between.
Most elections are 'sewn up' by the major parties and their choices of candidate are mainly the same old party hacks and self servers.
In reality, once you have placed your cross in the box, your chosen candidate has no further use for you and will alter or revise their stated manifestos in accordance with their particular party's dogma.
I hope that you can now appreciate that my standpoint has been thought out and not just formed on the basis of a whim.
Yes, Ive 'done my bit' and now, in later life, have been treated as if I have no value whatsoever.
Power to the People?
DMB
It's yours to choose whether to vote or not DMB. Spoiled ballots are counted and listed but why they are counted as spoiled is not disclosed so probably it will be thought of as complexity of voting or mistake rather than deliberate act.
There should be someone standing who is either worth voting for, or to whom a vote of last resort could be awarded.
There is also the act of voting as an expression of determination to hold on to our democracy. Our voting numbers are very low, partly for all the reasons mentioned in the post, partly for the deliberate devaluation of democracy's primary form of expression.
You haven't finished doing your bit till you vote.
A Ballot is spoiled when there are any marks made outside the confines of the 'x' box.
My normal practise of Ballot spoiling is to write "None of the above" at the bottom of the paper.
This is my freedom of expression and indicates to the reader or teller that I do not wish to vote for the candidates offered.
I don't feel that it is right to vote for a candidate that does not represent my interests. That's hypocrisy.
I would certainly not vote for a candidate of "last resort" as you suggest. That's desperation.
Whilst we'll probably have to agree to disagree on this one, how do you feel about the proposition of a compulsory vote with a None of the above option?
Still doin' my bit.
Stop quibbling and go and vote, it's not compulsory, but it's a duty. Vote.
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