Is there a good reason for NOT voting?

so you're one of the 42% of people in the UK who don't intend to vote in this year's general election fair enough maybe you're less than 18 years old in which case your time will come or maybe you're in prison or maybe you're the queen if you're the queen it's your Parliament and you're not allowed to vote that still leaves a whopping 13 million people who are eligible to vote but have said they're not going to the press call it voter apathy but that term implies that non voters are lazy people who would rather stay in bed than what five minutes to the polling station the truth is even sadder a lot of people are informed passionate and clued up but have chosen for their own reasons not to join in what legitimate decent well-thought-out reasons could they possibly have it's fun to fantasize and imagine that your one vote could tip the balance and change the result of a general election realistically of course that never happens except one time in 1910 when Henry Duke Baron Miraval won the seat of Exeter by a margin of one much more likely you live in a constituency that's nowhere near as marginal as that and it's pretty obvious who's going to win we have a far from perfect first-past-the-post process for picking future politicians and it can feel like it's pointless this is especially true if you like one of the smaller parties best that brings us to reason number one why people don't vote my favorite has no chance okay fine fine maybe maybe you can't change your MP is going to be but you can change their behavior oh the way parties behave in government is down to far more than just the election results it's down to the election details the morning after the general election all the stats of how many voters voted for whom and where are their to be seen on the internet and the party leaders are watching very carefully every vote for a small party is a vote taken away from one of the big ones and the big ones will do everything they can to try to win you back don't believe me just look at the Green Party before the recent surge of support for the Greens Labour had no intention of reen a tional izing the rail network but afterwards they did where do you suppose they got that idea it's the same for purple patriotic pound pushing potty mouths nuke it the more votes anti-immigration party you could get the more labour and the Tories move immigration up the agenda well done you can't vote errs perhaps it's not the smallness of your party that's stopping you from voting perhaps it's the opposite could it be you're not voting because my favourites going to win anyway what seems really obvious but what if everyone thought the same as you let's say everyone in your constituency thought your MP was really safe and there was no need to vote think that can't happen it's exactly what happened in 1997 to government Minister Michael Portillo in 1997 when he famously lost his so-called safe seat hahahaha also there's a big difference between winning by miles and winning by a hair's breadth if your MP gets a thumping majority they'll be more confident about their convictions and presumably if you like them that's what you want on the other hand if they just scrape in they'll be forced to compromise and pander to voters who never liked them in the first place so you see first-past-the-post is far from perfect but there is no such thing as a wasted vote that's so important I'll say it again there is no such thing as a wasted vote maybe it's not the counting system that's putting you off maybe and I'm sorry to say this is the most popular reason of all your reason is I hate all four many people after reading all the manifestos and watching all the party political broadcasts and browsing all the party websites and enduring all the TV debates they decided they're not a single one of the parties speaks to them and they don't even unhip the least worst one enough to give them a tactical vote if this is you rather than remove your voice completely why not do something that's more productive and more fun you can vote none of the above in some countries that's actually a box you can tick but in Britain you do this by spoiling your ballot the rules of the ballot box are strict you put an X and nothing else to make sure that there's no chance of error or fraud if you put a tick or color the box in or break the candidates out of ten or correct the spelling of the candidates names or put your own name and vote for yourself or put your own name and vote for someone else or write the lyrics to the stonecutter song from The Simpsons that's called a spoilt ballot and it won't be valid but it will be counted politicians will see them none of the above boats and they're much more likely to try and win you over and much more likely to try and fix the system if you've bothered to go out and vote spoiling your ballot is an absolute worst-case scenario last last last last resort but it's so much better than not voting at all it's totally understandable why people think that there's no point in voting but if you do go out and vote there is one thing that got absolutely guaranteed when you and your friends are bitterly complaining that the country's been piddled up the doo by a prime minister you hated a party you can't stand you can at least take solace in the ability to smugly shrug and say well it wasn't our fault

Channel: Jay Foreman

Views: 2,150,747

Keywords: Politics Unboringed, #GE2015, General Election, voter apathy, first past the post, voting, parliament, Green Party, Labour Party, Conservative Party, UKIP, Michael Portillo, Portillo moment, wasted vote, spoilt ballot, none of the above, Jay Foreman, Liam Butler, angryflatcap, Beardyman, Will Seaward, documentary, politics

Id: _gbDAvK42yA

Length: 5min 23sec (323 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 26 2015

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