...to not vote today

[twofingerstoGideon]

Tories have a massive majority here (more than double LibDem and Labour combined vote), They are so complacent about winning they don't even bother to campaign locally: definitely no door-to-door 'can we count on your vote?' stuff going on around here. We have had the same son-of-a-peer MP for fifteen years and prior to that we had another Tory for years on end.

I've always gone and voted anyway, have always considered it a moral obligation actually, but today I'm feeling like I really can't be arsed. I wish I lived someplace where I thought my vote might count, ie. where another party might have a fighting chance of getting in. I like to think that every vote counts and is important, but it's clear that my vote means nothing here.

WIBU to just not bother today?

Ywbu people died to give you the vote! Woman fought for the right to vote, we haven't even had it 100 years and people can't be bothered!!!!

Do you know what I found to be very effective possibly only in my mind the other day? Telling the door to door canvassers that this time I was protesting by not voting for anyone. They scribbled away in their notebooks what my concern was (the mad primary catchment areas in this town) and assured me this would be an issue for their party from now on. They possibly just scribbled any old thing in there to make me feel important but it felt more effective than voting for a party that sort of vaguely maybe could represent me. Just a thought - maybe email all your local parties and tell them what your biggest bugbear is and threaten not to vote because nobody is addressing it. I had already tried writing to the Council but been fobbed off, so this felt a bit more effective because they were the on-foot people who actually care enough about their local issues to volunteer their time canvassing.

Nick Griffin is an MEP because people couldn't be arsed to vote.

YABU, if you don't take the time to vote you can't complain about the result.

You may feel there is nothing to vote for but surely there are things to vote against.

Perhaps others are as fed up as you with the Tory strangle hold and your vote is all that is needed to get the Tories out of office.

Food for thought...

However, don't vote because some zealots died for it. They also died for your right not to vote.

But you should still vote.

To me, the only point not voting makes is apathy....which i don't think is terribly helpful. A better way would be to go to the polling station and 'spoil' your ballot paper.

I feel the same as you. I will vote because I think it's important, and I think votes do count in this area, but all three parties are saying exactly the same thing!

We have had the leaflets round from the big three, and they literally say the same thing. They are all going on about this villiage having a library and how important they think it is, and I couldn't give a flying fuck if we have a library! We already have a mobile one that will order books for people that want it, and the next town along has a perfectly good library with busses that go directly to it, but most people here drive anyway.

They have changed the rubbish collections and every single person I have spoken to has valid reasons for not liking the new system, it is crap. But did any of the candidates mention anything about that? No, of course not. They will just keep banging in about the thinks they think we shudo care about rather than the things we do actually care about.

In the run up to this election we've had precisely 2 leaflets through the door - both from the local tory candidate (so obv in the bin). Can't believe no-one else has even bothered! I always vote but feeling very apathetic about it today - maybe if I go to the polling booth it will motivate me..

Well, your vote does count. In that parties make decisions based not only on who wins, but the finer points as well, including how far the swing has gone for / against them. If you don't vote, it's assumed you have no strong feelings. If you have opinions, you should register them.

The elections are done by PR so your vote may well count..

Whoever delivered the Tory leaflets couldn't even get them through the letterbox. Just dropped them on the doorstep! I think this is a good enough reason to go vote for one of the others frankly.

I was going to post the same AIBU as the OP, but with much sillier reasons - my voting slip thingy has not come through the post (don't even know if I need one, that is how ignorant I am), and I have no idea who to vote for anyway, so wouldn't my random-choice vote be just as much as a waste and perhaps more damaging than if I just don't vote?

I admit I should definitely have done some research so I could have formed an opinion on who to vote for, and I agree it is my obligation to vote, people fought so women could vote etc etc. But surely just going in and ticking any random box is no use? So therefore surely I shouldn't vote? I have only ever voted before for the Alternative Vote ballot thing , but to my knowledge there haven't been many other votes since I was 18. It's been 4 years though so there probably have been and I probably have just missed them.

YABU - if you don't vote then the Tory is likely to assume that silence is consent to him carrying on. He needs to know that people out there don't support him.

That said it is rather depressing in some safe seats where I've often wondered if they weigh rather than count the victors vote!

itslallgoingtobefine - they're not done by PR. You vote for one candidate and the person who get the most votes wins - that's not PR

Emily Davison DIED so that you can vote.

I think the Nick Griffin argument is a strong one!

Definitely agree about the Nick Griffin arguement. Look what happens when people can't be bothered.

I know I must vote today but I am so undecided about who to vote for.

YABU.

You can't complain if you don't vote. So unless you are willing to nod and smile along with every new policy, regardless of how it impacts on you, vote.

YABU

Bad things happen when good (wo)men do nothing!

Spoil your ballot paper, they are counted and noted. The candidates will know people are pissed off if enough of us do it. No elections here this time though so I can't join in :(

faintpinkline - It depends where you are. In Scotland the council elections are done by PR - the single tranferable vote.

What good does complaining do anyway. So you vote and things go to crap and you complain.

nothing happens.

Yes we can number them in order of preference, I believe.

YANBU The decision not to vote is a perfectly valid one, particularly in a system which does not have a "NONE OF THE ABOVE". Spoilt papers are not the same, as they do not distinguish between the stupid and those that care.

It is wrong to say that you cannot then argue against any decision a politician makes, the political process in this country does not work like that, participation does not require voting - particularly as the chance of you actually agreeing 100% with a particular candidate is nil unless you are the actual candidate. And I'm sure no-one suggests you cannot complain about a policy of someone you chose to vote for simply because you voted for them?

If there's no-one to vote for, there's no need to vote, the time saved can be used to actually do something useful.