to wonder why

[tableanadchairs]

People put up posters of their political party in their windows. i think it just causes grief with neighbours when they have different views.
Some things should be kept private.

I always wonder, maybe some people walk past and think "Oh, I see the Joneses are voting LibDem, I quite like the Joneses, maybe I should vote LibDem, too."

I don't think it should be kept private, though. I just can't see what it might achieve.

Probably because somebody persuasive asked and made them think they should?

Why should it be kept private? I'm perfectly capable of being friends with different views from me. (Obviously I don't mean bnp type views, but I have friends who vote for all the mainstream parties.) I had a green poster in the election - I put it up because there was otherwise a sea of labour posters and I wanted to remind people that there were greens in the area so the green vote wasn't completely pointless (well it's about safe seat so it was in a way but I think the greens were keen to increase their influence by getting more voters if not more seats!). So anyway I think the main reason parties like it is so people don't think that a vote for their preferred party is pointless as there won't be enough others voting for it.

We put one up.

Why? Because I wanted people to vote for that party, and for that person (district councillor who had helped us over the last term) and because I wanted people to vote full stop.

Oh, and because people in the next street had UKIP posters up and it pissed me off

Maybe by showing other people that we are engaged in the process will interest them enough to actually go out and vote.

Kept private? it's voting, it's not a dirty little secret to be ashamed of.

The Scottish Yes/No campaign caused nothing but trouble in our normally very quiet street. Neighbours seriously falling out and still not speaking. Said neighbour has a "Still Yes" poster in the window.
Who and what l vote for is my business that is why we have private booths in voting stations. We just had a canvasser for SNP round the door-he asked if l would be supporting the candidate- l declined to answer. He took a look at my house name and number and wrote something in his book.
Paranoid- me ? -Yep

That canvasser will have made a note not to chase you up to vote on polling day, since you can't be counted on to vote the same way as him. Canvassing isn't sinister...

YANBU. A poster which just said "Please vote because..." followed by reasons why, might be a good idea. But just the name of a party? I never take any notice of them (and wish they weren't always so boring and garish)

The canvasser would be trying to gauge voting intentions, so don't worry, they will just be writing down 'doesn't want to say' so may save you future visits!

Your ballot is secret, but your voting intentions don't have to be, and everyone is entitled to their views and to express them.

I don't think it does much harm if you don't over think it. I really hate UKIP and can't understand why anyone should vote for them, but if I see a poster in someone's window I'm not going to march up their path and pick a fight with them.

My sister does canvassing for her party and it does save her a lot of time if people have a poster, perhaps that's one of the reasons parties encourage them.

Im sorry but my first reaction when I read thread title was to sing
'WE HOLD ON...WITH TEARS IN OUR EYES...'

It's a curious idea that voting intention should be "kept private". We live in a democracy, after all - and democracy is all about the exchange of ideas, arguing, debating, public meetings, demonstrations, open council meetings, letters to the press and so on. The idea that we should all keep our views to ourselves seems directly antithetical to the very notion of a democracy.