To admit I didn't vote in the Brexit Referendum?

[WeAreTheCrystalGems]

I'm one of the 28% who didn't vote. Anyone else?

Neither me or DH voted. We decided not to as we felt we didn't have enough solid information for either side to make an informed decision that we wouldn't regret later on.

Admittley we didn't seek out much in the way of becoming informed but followed the news more that usual. We don't regret not voting because if we had been forced to we probably both would have said leave based on the information we had at the time and would regret it.

Mouse I said leaving might stop the government from ignoring people like me and saying yhings like 'there are EU funds are there if you apply', that ty might look at the reasons for my choice and that other people might be angry at the possibility of a life like mine has been and take action! Your are dismissing and belittling me again by editing what I said down to that simply description. That is offensive and is an exemplar of the supposed superiority of remainers we talked about earlier. Your veiws are worthy of me trying to understand and agree with, but mine as a leaver are not?!

I do not call Brexiters idiots. I do ask them how they think the vote will make their day to day lives better

It doesn’t have to make their day to day lives better

Most of those working to end the slave trade were wealthy, white men. Nothing in it for them, no impact on their day to day life.

It might not affect a voter in any tangible way, but they still may feel it’s the best choice for the UK as a whole. If they said they’d voted knowing that the next fifty years would be tough - but we’d have a marvellous time after that - and could provide you with cast-iron proof, you still wouldn’t be satisfied. You’d then complain that they were selfish for not thinking of those suffering though the next fifty years. They’d say you were short-sighted. Sometimes no one’s wrong.

I am still awaiting an answer

No one owes you one. And you’d never be satisfied with one, you simply can’t admit that people have different values and priorities to you, which makes it a pointless exercise.

YABU not to vote.

Even if you don't know which is best, you should still go along and spoil your ballot. At least then your "I don't know" or "I don't agree with any of the above options" will be counted.

If no-one speaks up and says "actually, I don't understand / don't like any of the above / don't have all the facts" then how will anything change?

Please go along and spoil your ballot if you don't know which way to vote (it's perfectly legal and acceptable to do so).

i said leaving might stop the government from ignoring people like me and saying yhings like 'there are EU funds are there if you apply',

I appreciate you sharing your reasons why you voted Leave. However, our economy since Thatcher, so Blair’s government too, are based on neoliberalism principles. Even if EU funding is no longer around I really don’t think governments following neoliberalism will suddenly turn around and help those areas that have been so left behind. Thatcher was told whole areas would be decimated by her policy choices, she knew but didn’t care, as was willing to sacrifice them.

To be fair Blair’s government did use some initiatives to try and readdress the balance but not enough.

The Tory party has been veering ever more to the right in recent years. Should Brexit go ahead, with the inevitable decline in GDP which even main leave proponents will happen, the question is just how much, any pain will not be inflicted on their voters. The poor will bear the brunt.

@Justheretogiveaviewfrommyworld

That’s the way it goes on these threads I’m afraid! If you just listen to the Remainers who know it all, they’ll tell you where you’ve gone wrong as a human being and you’ll see the error of your ways!

Just on this thread so many people have they didn't vote because they didn't know which to choose.

Extrapolate just from people on this thread, and imagine how the poll might have gone if everyone in the country who couldn't decide had voted and spoilt their ballot?

@Lockheart

Do you think perhaps some folks are under the impression that spoiled ballots aren’t counted?

I’d love it at the next general election if millions spoiled their ballots. If the next government came into power and discovered only 10% of the people are voting for them and the rest are saying “fuck you!” maybe there’d be change.

It doesn’t have to make their day to day lives better confused. Most of those working to end the slave trade were wealthy, white men. Nothing in it for them, no impact on their day to day life.

Oh come on the Leave campaign promised economic prosperity. Their campaign wasn’t based on this will hurt economically for at least a generation but then it might be ok. Also you can be sure any economic pain will fall on those least able to withstand it.

@birdsandroses

I dont disagree, but it doesn’t relate to what I said.

@MrsAriadneOliver yes I do, and I'm not sure why.

Perhaps it should be made clearer as an option to people in future elections / referenda.

In the 2015 GE a third of the registered electorate did not vote. A THIRD!!

Sorry for shouting, but imagine if all those people had spoilt their ballots instead of not voting? They would have outnumbered votes for every single political party. How different could the political landscape look today?

www.independent.co.uk/voices/if-there-s-no-one-you-could-stand-to-vote-for-spoil-your-ballot-today-and-let-your-disillusionment-a7014786.html

Thanks Birds, but that's even worse. It's almost like you're saying I have to accept my lot because the seed is sown. I just can't do that. Brexit or no Brexit. I've tried writing to MPS and council folk, the ones around here are crap and just hark back to the good old days, which will never ever come back! I can't vote Tory and feel VV conflicted about the possibility of JC as PM (MGGD was a Jewish refugee from Germany). What makes it worse is if the council weren't such a shit show, they could nd should have capitalised on our heritage more. Chinese, Japanese and American people love our pottery and would have loved to visit nice shops for it and stayed over and eaten here, Alton Towers is on the doorstep as are the Peaks. Yet now everything is so shabby, no one would want to come and to cap it off, we are the Monkey Dust capital of the UK.

However, what makes me sad is, contrary to belief, the kids in my area, my Young adults boys included are lovely, friendly, integrated welcoming folk. Yet because of that Nuttall shit and a view idiots who provided ignorant soundbites to the media, we are all tarred as thick, rabid racists, people are very well intergrated together here with both EU and no EU immigrants.

At the time of the vote I knew quite a few people who said they weren't going to vote as they felt they didn't know enough. The only thing I'm hoping is that after brexit people finally understand that the biggest issues weren't eu's fault but actually due to our own dear government. Hopefully followed by a sharp turn to the left.

In the 2015 GE a third of the registered electorate did not vote. A THIRD!!

That’s shocking. But reflective of the disenchantment so many feel nowadays? Lots of folks politically homeless, and only two parties that stand a realistic chance. So much needs to change.

I’d have to spoil my ballot if we voted tomorrow - few options and don’t like any of them!

@MrsAriadneOliver I completely agree, but one of the best ways to show that disenchantment would be for all the politically disenfranchised (and like you I count myself among them) to spoil their vote.

Feeling disillusioned should not be an excuse to sit there and do sod all, it should be a spur to get up and do something about it, even if all you're able to do is spoil a ballot paper.

Perhaps a campaign is in order when the next big vote rolls around, whatever that may be. People need to be told that "none of the above" / "I don't know" / "I've drawn you a lovely picture of a giant penis" is a valid option.

Thanks justthere, I am sorry things are so bad in your area. I am on sickness benefits due to chronic illness, live in an area that isn’t as poor as yours but far from prosperous, so I do see that these areas and people have been let down.

However, I just do not think Brexit is the answer to the growing inequality. Can appreciate your ambiguity on Corbyn govt due to the anti semitism issue but his socialist democratic policies are trying to address the left behind areas . They may work, they are not jettisoning capitalism. However, with the decrease in our GDP, it’s going to be harder should he get in.

Perfectly fine to not vote. It's a right, but not something you must do.

But you can't complain about the result. You lost that right by not voting.

I suspect a lot of those who didn't vote in 2015 turned out to vote Leave in the referendum.

If it helps the non deciders in future to decide who to vote for, I base my decisions on which is the likely to be the least destructive. Like for brexit, no one could possibly know how good the outcome would be by leaving. It was a blind walk into the unknown, and I don't like being blind. So I prefer to stick with what I know works even if it is also flawed, but in this case the flaws are known. So I go with remain. It's the lesser of two evils.

With a GE vote now, if my vote would actually count (it wouldn't based on where I live, it will be snp that wins regardless of how I vote), I would probably pick tory depending on who the leader was. If it was Boris, I'd choose Labour. Most of the others, probably stick with tory. Both options suck, but you know what you're getting with tories. Got no idea what we'd get with blundering corbyn who can't even operate a door.

I'm in Australia and my postal vote didn't turn up in time.

I would love to have been able to cast a vote, and on a purely personal level (and quite unreasonably) I do feel a bit miffed by non voters - but voting isn't obligatory and not voting on a complex issue that you don't understand is perfectly rational behaviour.

Nor does it take away the right to complain about the outcome. You can't complain about the 51.9% winning but you can sure as fuck complain about the utter dogs dinner that our useless government has made of it since then.

@Mistigri I agree that if you really have zero interest in politics and don’t care at all what happens, then not voting is understandable. Disappointing, but understandable.

But lots of people on this thread have said the thing which stopped them was they didn’t know which way to vote. It implies they would have voted if they’d had a clear choice. With that in mind, I can’t understand why they wouldn’t go to the polling station and spoil their ballot.

It was 28% of the electorate (I think in the OP) which didn’t vote in the referendum? What percentage of that was down to apathy and what was down to being unsure? How different the outcome could be today if the result was 44% remain 45% leave and 11% spoilt (for example). Or even 20% spoilt!

I’m not saying voting is obligatory. I don’t want anyone marched down to the polling station against their will. But voter turnout is shockingly low I feel, and so many people don’t have their voice heard. 28% of registered voters is a hell of a lot of the country.

So please, if there’s no option or candidate you want to vote for, spoil your ballot.

I didn't vote as i was at the hospice.
My brother died that evening of the 23rd June 2016 aged 49
We both would have voted remain.

@MrsAriadneOliver in a post where I say I don't know enough about economics to make a sound judgment you respond by saying I believe I am "absolutely correct in all your assertions".

Did you read it or just make a knee jerk response?

Many posters are saying we should not have a referendum on such a complex issue and I agree. We are a representative democracy for a reason there are some issues that need a considered response that can not be reflected by a binary vote.

The other issue is that some of the Brexit issues are facts. Th EU is democratic, it just is. To say it isn't is like saying the grass is blue. Arguing against incontrovertible facts is not a point of view it's just wrong. You tell me how you respond when people make a point that is, quite simply, wrong.

You can discuss 'how' the democracy is enacted and I would love to have that debate but this is not what posters are saying.

Fair enough people didn’t understand what they would be voting for but surely they could have voted for the status quo rather than leaving something they had no great feelings about