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Original poster

Local elections: for the first time ever, I don't think I can vote for anyone

64 replies

PoliticallyHomeless · 02/04/2018 11:08

I am in an area (London) where the local elections are coming up in May. I have always been a big proponent of using your vote because
a) It's a hard-fought for right that we shouldn't take for granted
b) I always think that if you don't vote, you don't really have the right to bitch about the result, and the way things are.

Because of FPTP, I have on numerous occasions held my nose, and voted for the least bad option. Now however, I am at a point where I genuinely don't see who I can vote for. Self-Id is not the only issue on which I vote, but women's rights is a deal-breaker.

So, the options:

  1. Conservative. I met my (Conservative) local MP the other week, to discuss Self-Id. It was actually quite a good discussion; he is clearly a bit TERFy on the quiet, and we were broadly in agreement on the issue. However he made it plain that for now he was going to sit back and let Labour have this fight in public. Also he is an arch Brexiteer (I am a platinum card carrying Remainer) and has a pretty dodgy voting record.

  2. Labour. Great choice. Except for the Brexit problem. And the Women's problem. And the Anti-semitism problem.

  3. Lib Dems. I was a member but quit due to their unquestioning acceptance of the "trans women are women" mantra, and the pretty vile things their affiliated accounts have posted.

  4. WEP and Greens. They have brought in the TERF Finder General, so that's out.

  5. Communists. The Morning Star actually had some fairly gender critical pieces, so that looked promising. Unfortunately their Brexit line is lemming-tastic. Full speed ahead over the cliff, so we can bring in a Marxist/Leninist state.

So... it really goes against the grain for me not to vote, but this a real quandary.

WWYD?

OP posts:
politicalnamechanger · 02/04/2018 12:55

Don't spoil your ballot. The candidates and their agents will see them, but that's because they get to see all spoilt ballots so that everyone is in agreement that there's definitely no clear voting intention which should have been counted (eg a tick next to a box but not quite in it).

To take Brexit as an example, either they don't agree with you, or they'll have made the calculation that they'll gain more votes than they lose over it, or they do agree with you and are as frustrated as you are about their party's position. Either way it won't go any further - there's not a central database of reasons ballot papers were spoiled which the parties consult when deciding policy for next time.

With it being a local election, can you look into the individual candidates for your ward and find out what they as individuals stand for? Even if you don't agree with their party's national policies you might find someone whose local priorities (bin collections, school capacities, adequate street lighting, grass cutting in parks and cemeteries, public transport, so many things!) you agree with. And then you'll at least have not wasted your vote.

Signed, a former Labour council candidate who is frustrated with her party for exactly the same reasons you are.

EchoGivesNarcissusTheFinger · 02/04/2018 12:38

Spoiled ballots are counted. Are they categorised? e.g., between people who voted wrongly (ticking more than one box) and people simply scribbling on the ballot? What if those of us opposing self ID (and the systematic theft of women's spaces), and who simply cannot vote for any of the parties in these circumstances, had a single unifying symbol or slogan? Is there any prospect that those ballots could be quantified separately and so the main parties would know that women have had enough of this?

Been looking at this site:

www.votenone.org.uk/protest_votes_count.html

IrenetheQuaint · 02/04/2018 12:23

I feel your pain. I think I'll vote Lib Dem - their trans position is annoying but across the board (and on Brexit) they are much more sensible than the Tories and Labour.

Floisme · 02/04/2018 12:21

Same here op and I'm totally aware of just how useless spoiling my ballot would be. The problem is that, right here and right now, it still feels like the least harmful option. I'm another one praying for an independent candidate with half a brain.

Original poster
PoliticallyHomeless · 02/04/2018 12:10

Thanks for the Renew Britain link - will check it out in more detail.

@Palavra - I do agree with your points. A spoilt ballot paper does nothing, so I will probably have to weigh up the options and go with the least bad option. Not sure yet who is standing; hopefully will get more info nearer the time.

Saddened to see so many others are in the same boat, although at least I know I'm not alone.

What I really hope is that I get some canvassers on my doorstep. I generally avoid them, as I've usually decided who I'm going to vote for. But this time round, it's an opportunity to engage with them and make my feelings know.

To all who are in the same boat - Chin Up Flowers. At least we have people like Amy and the #ManFriday team raising the issues. Here's to things getting better.

OP posts:
AreYouTerfEnough · 02/04/2018 11:39

renewbritain.org/britain-today/

Have a look at these people here. Don’t know how many candidates they have. Perhaps stand as one?

MsMcWoodle · 02/04/2018 11:33

I'm spoiling my ballot. First time ever.
They do announce the number of spoiled ballots, so if there is an upswing someone might get the hint.

BahHumbygge · 02/04/2018 11:28

Same here Sad

Do find out who your local independent candidates are and how they stand... that might be an option.

Palavra · 02/04/2018 11:26

Vote for the least worst. You have to weigh things up and make a value judgement but not voting does nothing whatsoever. They aren’t going to see your ballot defacing slogans, they will also not have any reason to think or care about you as a voter if you aren’t voting for them or are unlikely to vote for them, so they’re not going to change any policies as a result. I am voting labour despite my concerns and despite being particularly strongly concerned over antisemitism (as I’m Jewish) but I think, nonetheless, that they’re the best of a bad lot. And that my voting for them will not prevent me from campaigning over issues I care about either.

Personwithhorse · 02/04/2018 11:19

Don’t bother defacing your ballot - I used to count votes, it just gets put in a spoilt papers pile, no one will read it or care. Best to vote for the least worst option.

HawkeyeInConfusion · 02/04/2018 11:17

No idea. But I'm in the same quandary.

So far, my only option seems to to scrawl 'none of you because you all hate women' across the voting card. Which will achieve nothing at all.

UpstartCrow · 02/04/2018 11:17

I'm going to deface my ballot. I haven't decided what to write yet.

rowdywoman1 · 02/04/2018 11:16

Another one here feeling completely disenfranchised.

vicviking · 02/04/2018 11:15

Feeling similarly disenfranchised. Almost as if we got given the vote for 100 years and that was deemed enough.