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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is a crap excuse not to vote

62 replies

Hairydontcare · 14/05/2017 18:02

FB. A suffragette type picture is posted, lots of "women died for your right to vote." Then my friend has posted "I'm not voting, it doesn't make any difference round here, I'm not interested and they died for my right NOT to vote."

AIBU to think this is horseshit?

OP posts:
LedaP · 14/05/2017 18:06

Hmm

Cant be arsed and not interested, i agree with you.

However i hate when women have 'women died for your right to vote' thrown at them. And the person is correct. They died for the right to vote, not an obligation to vote.

If someone chooses not to vote thats up to them. I may not agree, but thats their choice.

How often do men get people guilting them into voting?

WhataHexIgotinto · 14/05/2017 18:09

Well i suppose it depends on how you feel about voting in the first place I suppose. I think everyone should vote, male or female but I suppose she's right in the sense that it is her choice. I'm appalled by anyone who doesn't vote tbh.

RufusTheRenegadeReindeer · 14/05/2017 18:09

Agree with leda

DramaInPyjamas · 14/05/2017 18:09

They died to give women the CHOICE to vote.
I choose to vote but I agree with her too, some people just aren't politically minded, why vote for something you have no knowledge or interest in?

WhataHexIgotinto · 14/05/2017 18:10

There are far too many 'supposes' in my post. Blush

NancyDonahue · 14/05/2017 18:10

Voting is a right, not an obligation.

Pinkheart5917 · 14/05/2017 18:10

Women died for your right to vote but surely that means you are Also free to not vote if you wish. I hate that argument people trot out.

People don't have to vote if they don't want, that is a choice they are free to make

HeyCat · 14/05/2017 18:11

I agree with her.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 14/05/2017 18:12

Your friend is right; she has the choice of whether to vote or not. She doesn't want to, and that's fair enough.

user93483098350593850000 · 14/05/2017 18:13

It's a free country, so your friend is correct.

category12 · 14/05/2017 18:14

Everyone should vote.

If you think your vote doesn't matter, go in and spoil your ballot paper with "None of the above". Never gone to change a single thing by sitting at home.

CormorantDevouringTime · 14/05/2017 18:19

It's true that universal male suffrage was a huge fight, and is less than a century old. Men fought and died (and were transported for life) for the right of working class men to vote but weirdly people don't talk about that at all.

AngryGinger · 14/05/2017 18:25

Personally I don't think there's any reason good enough not to vote. I'll be on holiday when the election is and ive got a postal vote coming at some point soon I hope

BoneyBackJefferson · 14/05/2017 18:29

CormorantDevouringTime

Unfortunately, true though your point is, it is generally an unwelcome fact on this board.

However, depending on which area theOP's friend lives in, she may have a point as it is a major flaw with the fptp voting system.

Around here it is 52% Tory. so even if everyone else voted for one party they still wouldn't have a say.

LittleBooInABox · 14/05/2017 18:43

I won't be voting. Politics is mud slinging now. Everything I've read is slamming the other candidate as a person, not their policy's.

If that's what we're teaching children is healthy debate, to slander the opposition I want no part in it.

WhataHexIgotinto · 14/05/2017 18:50

How about trying to teach children to at least try to make a difference Boo? Teach them to care? I hate the mud slinging too, but apathy is worse IMO.

isittheholidaysyet · 14/05/2017 18:52

This is a problem we have in our system.
Yes she is right that by getting us the vote, they also gave the right to choose not to vote.

However there is a difference between the apathetic who can't be arsed to vote, and those who are very politically aware and involved but cannot bring themselves to support any candidate.
In the scheme of things, is there really any point in turning up to ruin your ballot paper?

I think we should have two more boxes at the bottom of the ballot paper.

  1. None of the above, reopen nominations.
  2. I disagree with this political system.

Or something of those natures.

MyGastIsFlabbered · 14/05/2017 18:52

AngryGinger I'm with you, I don't think there's any excuse not to vote....even if you go and spoil your ballot paper. Voter apathy is rife yet the way to make change happen is to vote.

BoneyBackJefferson · 14/05/2017 19:01

isittheholidaysyet

I am an active member in the NOTA movement. A NOTA box has been ratified to go on the ballot but the government won't put it there.

Until they do, or until there is a party the they want to vote for what choice do ballot spoilers have?

PerpetualStudent · 14/05/2017 19:02

I find this idea that 'politics' is something that happens in a bubble, that we can choose whether or not to follow, like the music charts, or an obscure sport, is madness (and IMO a rhetoric created by the ruling classes in a 'the devils greatest trick is convincing you he doesn't exist' move)

'Politics' is:
How much tax you pay
What rights you have access to
How your children will be educated
What support you will have if ill/disabled/the victim of crime/unemployed/
How affordable your housing options are

It effects everyone, and it is the bullshit of the ruling classes that would convince you otherwise in order to be able to continue to make choices about all the above and more that suit themselves rather than the vast majority of the population.

SomewhatIdiosyncratic · 14/05/2017 19:08

I would rather spoil than abstain. A spoil is an indicator that I have engaged with the system, but am dissatisfied. Abstaining could be a protest or could be apathy.

I've always lived in safe seats and have never cast my vote to the winning MP. My vote has never contributed to a change in my favour, so feels a waste of an opinion on that level. However, if I didn't cast my vote, I have no chance of contributing to change anyway.

I'm not saying that voting should be compulsory, but if all voters did participate and vote for the candidates that they feel are least likely to do harm, then the outcomes in many constituencies could be different.

BigGrannyPants · 14/05/2017 19:09

All reasons not to vote are horseshit imho

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 14/05/2017 19:10

1. None of the above, reopen nominations.

Fair enough to have 'none of the above', but to have reopen nominations is just ridiculous. You'd never ever get a candidate everyone liked and so that box would always have some ticks in it. You can't forever be reopening nominations.

BoneyBackJefferson · 14/05/2017 19:11

PerpetualStudent

yet under the fptp system that we have, if the main party in my constituency has over 50% of the vote, I have no say in any of that.

The current government is ruling with a mandate of less than 1/3 of the people that voted, and even less when you factor in those that are eligible to vote but didn't.

It does effect everyone but unless the system is fixed people are not going to bother, (and some still won't bother)

TittyGolightly · 14/05/2017 19:13

why vote for something you have no knowledge or interest in?

Because it fucking affects everyone, including you!!!!! It's not rocket science!

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