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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think a 66% turnout is just not enough

89 replies

odyssey2001 · 08/05/2015 10:40

It just annoys me that only two thirds of the population care about how the country is run.

AIBU to think that if you do not vote you cannot whine and moan about the economy, benefits, immigration, the NHS, pensions, potholes, the education system, tuition fees, any political party especially UKIP or austerity measures.

If you don't vote, you don't get a say.

OP posts:

DisappointedOne · 08/05/2015 13:38

44? 34. And no. He's just given the non-voters some pseudo-justification for being feckless twats.

QuintShhhhhh · 08/05/2015 13:38

Of course voting cant be compulsory.

Democracy gives people the right not to stand by or support ANY of the candidates, if they don't feel they speak for them.

AggressiveBunting · 08/05/2015 13:41

I dont understand this obsession with making people vote. It's totally pointless to make someone who doesn't give a shit go to a poll booth and say they don't give a shit.

DisappointedOne · 08/05/2015 13:41

Except that other democracies have compulsory voting, which works rather well..................

AggressiveBunting · 08/05/2015 13:45

Well it works in that you get a load of uninformed and apathetic people turning up and putting a cross in a random box, but I wouldn't say that's any better than them leaving to those who care.

DisappointedOne · 08/05/2015 13:47

I think you need to find out a bit more about it. In other countries, e.g. Australia, they rate all of the candidates in order of preference rather than pick one (not sure if there's a NOTA option). If they don't vote, that's okay, they just get fined.

Enb76 · 08/05/2015 13:48

People don't vote because regardless of which party gets in it's mostly same old, same old. The country is still run, the trains still work, they mostly have a job. The point at which they become concerned about what is about to happen, they do vote. I vote and always have but I've never been particularly worried about the result as quite frankly, in this country, we are ridiculously lucky as regards our quality of life and our system of government generally keeps us fairly stable.

AggressiveBunting · 08/05/2015 13:51

But what if you don't know what any of the candidates stand for? You just write some random numbers in boxes and leave. I know that's probably totally unimaginable to people who are engaged with politics, but believe me, there are a lot of people who couldn't really tell you the difference between the manifestos and don't really care. I think it's better to have a government elected by a smaller percentage of engaged voters than have a 33% lucky dip element to it.

caroldecker · 08/05/2015 13:54

Why should politicians (or anyone else) give a flying fuck for non-voters? They have made a choice and live with the consequences.

AggressiveBunting · 08/05/2015 13:57

I guess politicians only care if they think that the "non-voters" are disproportionately people who are likely to vote for them, if they were made to vote.

Number3cometome · 08/05/2015 14:02

How about making the day a Bank Holiday, but one like Christmas where everything has to be closed?

That way lots of people will not have to worry about voting before or after work.

They could introduce online voting for those in hospital, or phone apps etc.

Or even extend the voting to take place over a few days instead of just one!

All for making it compulsory, but what's the penalty if you can't make it?

Also there would have to be a box saying "no confidence in anyone" or "don't give a shit"

ShadowFire · 08/05/2015 14:12

I get irritated by people who don't vote unless they have a good reason for it. Not liking the candidates isn't a good reason, you still have the option of deliberately spoiling the ballot paper if you don't like any of them.

And I live in a safe seat, which had a turnout of 66%, so same as national average turnout. Not sure if turnout in other safe seats was lower than average.

DisappointedOne · 08/05/2015 14:12

Yep. Australian elections are held on weekends.

DisappointedOne · 08/05/2015 14:16

Turnout in my area was 65%. Next one over was 60%. Next one 59%. Merthyr was 53%.

bakingtins · 08/05/2015 14:19

The whole system is mad. The Tories got 34% of a 66% turnout, so less than a quarter of the electorate voted for them, but they get to form a majority government. FPTP means in many 'safe' seats a vote for any opposition party feels like it doesn't count. Minority parties in the UK are very under-represented in terms of seats, compared to the percentage who voted for them, whereas the SNP with fewer votes have loads of seats....
The system makes voters feel disenfranchised.

AggressiveBunting · 08/05/2015 14:23

Yes - the SNP got 1.5m votes and 56 seats. UKIP got 3.9m votes and one seat. Even poor old Cleggers got 2.3m votes and only 8 seats. Now I'm a fan of neither UKIP or the SNP, but that is just not representative. It's actually banana republic bad.

googoodolly · 08/05/2015 14:32

YANBU, but not all votes are the same. I live in a conservative stronghold. If everyone who had voted for the other parties had ALL voted Labour, the conservatives would still have won by 5,000 votes. I voted, but there wasn't much point. It makes no difference around here.

Wafflenose · 08/05/2015 14:32

I do think it is crap. Everyone I know seems to have voted, but my DH works in a setting with 20 service users, only 1 of whom went to vote. They are all entitled to, and all capable of doing so, but he says it's like another world at work. Where they think the world revolves around them!

BabyDubsEverywhere · 08/05/2015 14:32

I didn't vote, I don't feel I need to as I live in a tory safe seat and I would vote tory. I am very interested in politics, and with FPTP and a safe tory seat I know there was no point in me wasting my time going to the polling station. IF systems were changed and seats in Westminster were representational of actual votes then I would vote. I think this would make the biggest difference to voter apathy overall.

Mrsfrumble · 08/05/2015 14:34

Does a spoiled ballot count as a vote then?

There's a thread going on by expats who missed their chance to vote because their ballots didn't arrive in time. I know that's probably a tiny fraction of non-voters, but not all of the 44% was down to apathy (or Russell Brand).

addstudentdinners2 · 08/05/2015 14:35

QuintShhhhhh but there would be a box saying 'none of the above', so no one would be forced to vote for anyone.

CoolAs10Fonzies · 08/05/2015 14:41

They should give out free shots of jaeger at polling stations

itsonlysubterfuge · 08/05/2015 14:43

Also, is that two thirds of the population or of people who are eligible to vote? Saying 66% of the population voted when some people can't vote because of age, citizenship, incarceration, etc. is a little misleading.

AggressiveBunting · 08/05/2015 14:44

There's a thread going on by expats who missed their chance to vote because their ballots didn't arrive in time.

That happened to me. If I'm honest I didn't care that much. I'm a bit torn about if non-residents should even vote. I might not even be living in the Uk at any point in the next 5 yrs so I feel it's a bit bad to have a say in something that might not impact you.

msrisotto · 08/05/2015 14:45

Part of me thinks we should make it compulsory like Australia have.

On the other hand, it is actually really hard to get good information on which to make a decision and in the end it's all smoke and mirrors anyway so what difference does it make...

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