UK local elections- did anyone else exercise their right to not vote?

[archemedion-the-mage]

Did anyone else not vote? I have never voted. I will not vote until the policies offered embody a much much larger range of possibilities for living. We are offered such a narrow band of realities that there isnt really a choice at all - just the same clown with different masks. To be truly free to choose the realities we want to experience the only recourse is to demonstrate peacefully by exercising our right to not vote.

Blessings

[Sérénité]

Me neither never voted once in the 20 years I've been eligible to. As you say, same clown but different mask!
The amount of times people have said to me, but if you don't vote you've no right to moan about what's going on...how do you make closed minded people realise the people who you're voting for are simply a bunch of monkeys wearing different coloured ties, being led by the same organ-grinder!

[greybeard]

I haven’t voted since I was twenty and that was not yesterday.
Chris

[araucaria]

If you take a constituency like South Shields recently vacated by David Miliband, electorate c.63,000, the new member got 12,000 votes. The low turnout may be put down to its being a bye-election (i.e. a midterm election to replace an outgoing member). However, at 39.3%, down 18.4 percentage points on last time, it shows that only 57% turned out for the general election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_S...onstituency%29

Hence clearly in this instance, and I suspect in many others, more and more people are just not voting. The trouble is that meantime every seat in Parliament continues to be filled by people who are less and less representative, and Parliament continues to draft the laws of the country.

The conclusion would appear to be that abstention is not a viable option. There is a need for good honest candidates to be voted in to do a proper job. (In this case a female social worker has been voted in: may she do what is needed).

[apollo41]

yeah i have never voted in my life, i will never vote either? they are all puppets for the same master..

[viscountvlad]

I have spoilt my ballot in the last couple of elections. I think spoiling the ballot shows the desire for a say and that you care about how the country is run. When a political party or candidate show some policies worth voting for i will be happy too!

[andrewgreen]

I think part of the answer is to have all the elected members of government made up of independents. While this won't stop corruption it will stop institutional corruption and help change peoples mind from sticking to stereo types and sides to actual issues, I'd be interested to know others opinions on this idea.

Another solution is the analysis of politicians voting records over rhetoric. I think there is a growing awareness of this however it potential impact is limited to the votes the corrupt political party in power puts forward.

[Ellisa]

Next time you casually toss your ballot paper in the metaphorical rubbish bin remember that the right to vote is still denied to people in some countries, and people still die for the right to choose their own government. My own mother, who was born in the UK in 1913 was not, at the time of her birth, able to look forward to electing her government, because she was female. Her twin brother however was enfranchised from birth. Universal suffrage is worth fighting for, and if at the moment it's looking grim, it is because people forgetting how minorities and women had to fight for the right to choose the people to represent them in government. When the election is held, my vote is worth the same as any oligarch's. In my particular electorate the sitting member has a majority which represents .2 of the total vote, so every vote is perhaps even more important than usual.

I also live in Australia, where it is compulsory to register and receive a ballot form. (It actually is not compulsory to make a valid vote--- however it seems a bit silly not to bother when you have the ballot slip in your hand, and in fact the non-voters are a only a very small percentage of the total).

It is up to us as voters to scrutinise the candidates and contact our representatives to express our opinion. Ignoring government will not make it go away, instead we need to involve ourselves in the selection and performance of the person we select to act on our behalf in Parliament. Our government is us.

[Tesseract]

Was the RESPECT party running in your electorates - if they were, is there any particular reason why not to vote for them?

[golden lady]

I wish there was a box with " none of the above" I would gladly tick that!

[albativo]

Neither my wife nor I vote. MSM keep reporting on voter turnout as they would love to see it at 100%, but I would love to see the day that not one person showed up to vote and the message that would really send.