To have exercised my right NOT to vote in today's elections

[taratill]

Just as the question says.

First time I have not voted in my adult life (24 years).

Just can't bring myself to vote for either party. Traditional labour voter but Corbyn is impossible to vote for (anti-semetic/views on self ID)

Torn between feeling guilty and hoping that enough people have not voted / there are voter analysis done that realise that labour have lost votes due to this and will evoke a change of leadership!

As long as labour voters dont vote Tory in protest.... which I think is utterly utterly stupid and skin to cutting off your nose to spite your face.... then entirely up to you.

If you and others could try and answer the OP without trying to suggest voting the "right way" then she may have been out and vote today.

You are part of the problem

jasjas

Abbott aside?? She would be Home Secretary!! And really Rebecca long Bailey who can’t answer questions and Emily Thornbury?? The labour front bench is pitiful. Truly embarrassing as is the Tory front bench.

I voted first in 1982 aged 18. Never ever hsve I been so worried at the far far left and the far far right raping both main parties.

Shameful

justabunch

Seriously you sound like ‘2 legs bad 4 legs good’ I expect you know the quote. Maybe you need to really think it through. Labour are pitiful. No opposition and for you to see this as a race to the bottom demeans the party.

Get Corbyn out. Get a proper front bench.

Abbott aside , imho Labour have a very effective front bench

Someone will end up in power. Yes it might have to be the least worst option, but better than the worst one, no?

People not voting doesn't make the political landscape change, it doesn't make party leaders sit up and take notice, it just means you don't have a say.

abbott aside

She won’t be cast aside as Corbyn shagged her and she won’t be silenced she’s like the terminator how ever much she fucks up she rises up. Shameless woman

@nanny0gg we'll have to agree to differ. I don't think I'm doing the suffragettes an injustice by saying the current electoral system is insufficient and I think that voting for the 'least worst' especially when they're all appalling is an inadequate response.

Under the current system I fear you are right that not voting or spoiling the ballot means you don't have a say (although the analysts do take note of voting trends - albeit quietly) . That does need reforming. Urgently.

People not voting just comes across as apathy. Someone still gets some elected and takes the position.

Agree the options can be shitty. But having worked in places where women are not able to vote I will always pop to the poll station. And my mum would tut if I didnt.

I worked as a poll clerk in my ward today. 6am - 10pm with no proper break. There was a 9% turnout.

9% ??????

Fucking hell. Hope you took a good book to read.

was it nationwide

we didnt get any voting cards through

shouldnt have to if you dont want to

I was working with a lovely presiding officer so we just chatted and drank tea for the whole 15 hours

The trouble is with 'None Of These' as an option, is that this protest comment isn't the function of the election. The sole purpose of the election is to elect the top numero uno banana's pyjamas of the available candidates. (As if!)
The complaints side of things is supposed to be at the party level and has nothing to do with the Council or the election processes.

If we are unhappy about the options available and policies on offer, we need to mobilise and make our opinions heard by the local candidates and parties. We could also join the local party and make change from the inside, or better still, actually become a candidate. Now there's a thought!

Re the 9%, although it would still have been an abysmal turnout overall, the percentage would be higher due to the postal votes. Local elections have a much lower turnout than parliamentary elections. European elections used to have a really low turnout too, although this picked up dramatically for the referendum.
Gabsalot, not nationwide. Councils have elections three years out of four, and the fourth is different throughout the country.

suburban my mum is a presiding officer too.

She always said turning up and spoiling is better than not voting.

I did it with her once, it's a long day.

I can't imagine not voting.

Mid 50's. I have never not voted. Today was the first time ever I have voted Conservative at a local election. Always Labour but after reading many, many threads on Mumsnet re trans self ID as a female I cannot vote Labour.

It is a local election so I would have thought candidates would have opinions on local issues. Frequently independent candidates are pretty toothless. They have no admin and party workforce behind them and can struggle to be effective. They are often one issue politicians who get protest votes and may not do much about other policies.

Regarding ID - people who vote should be able to prove they are entitled to vote. There have been difficulties of fraudulent voting in some wards and this needs to be tackled. Postal votes is another area of possible frauds. If the Home Office issued ID cards as nearly every other country has, then ID cards would the best solution. The poor do have ID. NI numbers, NHS numbers etc. There are few people who don’t have ID, but many don’t bother to vote. There is a big problem of women who don’t speak English getting get their votes stolen by other household members. This needs to be prevented.

I always vote, even though, more often than not, even in General Elections, my vote is for none of the above, so I spoil my paper. I do not agree that a spoilt paper is equal to not voting- I am exercising my right to say that I do not want any of the available options. Many people are armchair warriors and that implies 'could have voted for x but couldn't be arsed'. If everyone who chooses 'none of the above' spoilt their paper rather than not voting, I suspect we would have the first landslide we have seen in quite some time.

No elections here but I can understand just how you're feeling, OP. However, I think I would have to vote, be it Green or for an independent candidate. For me, not voting means an acceptance of the status quo and that's not what I want at all. How can I moan about the council, government etc if I haven't done my bit to try changing it.
I'd even go so far as to say I think voting should be compulsory when I hear of pitiful 25% turnouts. I've only ever not voted once and that was for these daft police & crime commissioner roles. Not needed IMO.

Neither myself or my partner voted, nor did we vote at the last general election. Prior to which we had both voted since eligible (now almost 50)

Fact is neither of us believes a single word parties spout. It's just a good well paid job with fab pension, I honestly believe they couldn't give a toss so long as they're OK.
Oh yes, you'll get the concerned look and agreeable nods too, thing is my dog can do that too!!

I doubt I'll ever vote again, I'm less patriotic now than I've ever been in my whole life.

Quite honestly could not give a fuck!!

We had Labour candidate knock on our door, last election, and ask “Does the Asian lady live here?”. DH had noticed the candidate only knock on the doors of ‘non White’ households on our street.
Earlier today, the same candidate (who we have not seen, since the last visit, despite requests for help with local park issues) , knocks on the door, DH opens the door, the man looks past him, into the room and starts a conversation with me( I am the Asian lady) , completely ignores DH.
DH is White. The Labour candidate, (who was campaigning on behalf of his sister-who is also standing), is Asian.
DH and me, both baffled at this behaviour. 2 votes lost.
YADNBU

Ohmydayslove

As i said, Abbott should go but, going on about Labours front shadow bench just lets people like the odious Jeremy Hunt carrying on regardless wrecking the NHS, whilst concentrating on his families new property business FFS or a Government that has failed continually to met its own fiscal targets despite 8 years of austerity, causing a collapse in local services.
Name an opposition that having won a GE kept the same cabinet positions?

My GF voted yesterday and the Tories were kicked out of Plymouth, in other places despite disenchantment with the Tories, they stayed in power because didnt vote.

There were so many electors who approached us to say they had had no campaign material and felt the candidates believed the result was a forgone conclusion that we are going to feed it back to the elections office.

I was shocked at how few young people
came to vote compared with at the GE.

Labour really threw everything they had at Wandsworth - packs of canvassers out in the run up and at all times of day yesterday. They didn't win. If they can't do it now, I don't think they can do it at all.

The reversion back to LibDem for Richmond isn't anywhere near the scale of defeat to show discontent with the Tory party.

Kingston and Westminster both Tory hold too.