To think that voting should be compulsory, with a £1000 fine for failing to cast your vote.

[HecatesTwopenceworth]

Bloody voter apathy drives me crazy! If you don't vote you have no right to moan about the state of things. 17.5% turnout in Salford.

17.5%

Outrageous.

I think that voting should be compulsory, but there should be an additional box on the form to allow you to abstain, if you do not wish to give any of the candidates your vote, and that you have longer to vote - so there are sessions over several days, to allow people time to vote around their commitments.

But not voting should not be an option imo, even if your vote is I Wish To Not Vote (cos you're all bastards)

Go on. Hit me...

UABU- In my opinion not voting is not so much apathy as realsising that all the parties are talking bollocks and taking a stand against all of them. I do have strong opinions but I am completely at a loss as to which party is going to make this country a success.
David Cameron is very charismatic though!

I guess that depends on what you call charisma!

I do understand your point but YABU.

The current Govt achieved less than 36% of the vote at the last election. Why should I be forced to vote in a system that awards govt to a party without a mandate in the form of the will of the majority of the people? And I'm not going to vote for a party which supports an alternative electoral system when they have 100 other policies which I do not support.

And how can anyone seriously suggest that I should be forced to go to a polling station in order to NOT cast a vote or to cast a spoiled vote? Why on earth would you seek to waste someone's time like that, time which could be far more usefully employed.

We don't live in Zimbabwe or a country where the outcome of an election can have massive immediate consequences for people. If voting made any difference, they would have found a way to abolish it already (which is exactly why we never have single issue voting opportunities - ie referenda - which actually could make a difference to how we are governed).

Any introduction of fines for not voting would just be a means of raising revenue - yet another stealth tax then - yes let's vote for that!

Well people better vote as our school is closed for the day as its a polling station.
Lots of parents have to pay xtra childcare!

Why isn't politics covered/taught in schools? I think it's vaguely covered in A Level General Studies, but I didn't have to do that because I took my A Levels 2 years late and it was assumed I'd already done it.

I'd like to vote in the next general election because it will be the first time I'll be old enough to, (I missed the last one by a few months) but I just have no idea who to vote for or even where to start looking to see who is the best person to vote for. My mum doesn't vote for any of the major parties (she votes for the Green Party) because she doesn't understand it either.

And actually, I don't understand why it is so important - Well I do, in the sense that people fought for us to live in a free society, etc, but everyone says all politicians lie anyway, you kind of think what is the point?

So - er - any pointers for me? How do I decide who to vote for?

YANBU. If every ballot paper had an "I abstain" box to tick, then it would not be forcing people to vote for candidates that they do not agree with.

I do make a point of voting, and every man and woman should. I also think that voting age should have been lowered to 16, for the reason of no taxation without representation. The argument that very few 16-17 year olds are in paid employment does not hold with me.

If someone doesn't know/care about politics, then they shouldn't vote. They don't get a say in who runs the country, that's sufficient punishment surely?

Some posters wanted to know who to vote for?
Well, for a start, all the parties have their manifestoes on their websites.
Or have a look at www.theyworkforyou.com. You can find your local MP and their voting record. If you agree with them broadly, vote for them. If not, vote for a more right-wing/left-wing candidate as appropriate.

And there are various sites that ask you about your opinions and match you with a political party: www.activehistory.co.uk/Miscellaneous/free_stuff/vote_2005/frameset (which is obviously out of date, but the general party principles are the same)

Or just vote for anyone who isn't the fecking BNP! Even better, campaign against them: www.hopenothate.org.uk

Sorry - second link doesn't work. Am trying to find an alternative....

I would favour making voting compulsory and also agree that people who don't vote have no right to moan about the state of things.

The arguments that not voting = making a stand against the crapness/sameness of all the current parties or that "it's not worth it as it makes no difference" doesn't hold water either for me. Let's assume for a minute that this is true and that the current parties are all crap/the same, or that voting doesn't make any difference. So how does not voting help that? How does it change anything or make a difference?

The answer is that it doesn't. In fact it makes things worse as fewer and fewer people are participating in a properly run democratic process (and whatever else you think of it, we do at least have fairly run elections here; look at Zimbabwe or the US in 2000 if you think otherwise) therefore it's undermined and allows more power to fringe/nutter parties like the BNP.

Someone posted that they don't vote but they're not apathetic. I totally disagree. Unless you are doing something yourself to improve the system like actively campaigning for changes in the process, encouraging better candidates to stand for election, or even forming a new party and standing yourself, then if you don't vote, whatever high-minded reasons you think you have for it, you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

P.S. Everyone get out and vote for someone, anyone on 4th June in the European elections, other than the BNP. The larger the total vote, the less likely it is that they will get a big enough proportion of the total vote to win any seats. So vote Green, vote for your local independent candidate, or whoever you can, if you're disillusioned with the main parties. In this instance it really can make a difference.

i agree with eightieschick and all the others who have said how important it is to vote, to be part of the process, even if its to abstain/spoil to show your disapproval of the offered candidates. (However most elections i have participated in have usually had an independent "vote for me if you hate everybody else" type chap/ess who is a wee rebel on the sidelines ha ha)

I saw an item on the news years ago about an elderly frail black lady who had walked MILES in the heat for HOURS to cast her vote in South Africa's first free elections and the sheer joy in her face at being able to do so, when she had thought she would die without ever seeing an end to the regime that oppressed her, well it touched my heart and soul and i remember her at every election. VOTE! Please! Never give anybody the excuse to take our votes away!

I filled in and sent off my postal vote today. The ballot papers arrived this morning.
Much easier.

It is important to vote! Can't get the husband to understand this though and i don't think he'll bother.

You are not being unreasonable.

17.5% is bloomin' disgusting.

Hear, hear, eightieschick! (Thugh I would say vote Green...)

Phantomplopper (and anyone else who's feeling apathetic) - get your DH to take a look at this website. It's a fun way of seeing if any of the parties reflect your views - and it might not be the party you expect. Also a good way to acquainted with the issues in the election.

I don't want to vote. I don't actually believe that I live in a proper democracy. The MPs self-regulate (for self-regulation read do-as-they-please and rip the taxpayers off). The local council is unspeakable. The Euro MPs are probably worse than the Westminster lot.

Not voting is my way of protesting.

But surely doing nothing is not protesting?

See, I think it is. Total disengagement from the political process. The last time I bothered to make a protest was the anti-invading Iraq thing. Massive popular mood against invasion. Polls showed something like 90% plus against invading. What happened? We invaded.

Of course feel free to go and vote if you think it makes a difference and if your vote counts.

I agree, mostly it doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference, but those times when changes have happened - they've not come about by protests nobody knew were happening.

What is the point of a protest that nobody knows about? What does it achieve? Or is achieving something through protest not the aim? When you protest, it is to make your voice heard. Simply not voting is the total oppostite of that - unless you write to your mp and tell them that you are not voting in protest, of course.

If, for example, we all protest against, oh I dunno, the BNP, by staying at home and thinking I don't like the BNP, then what good does it do? A protest is only a protest if it is known to be such.

I guarantee the government won't be thinking X number of people don't vote in protest, they'll be thinking X number of people don't care about politics, government or anything not big brother, eastenders or sleb related. Goody. Oooh, have you seen that drawbridge, it'd look fab over my moat....

I also think that voting doesn't generally make a huge difference. However, the very fact that we live in a country in which we have a vote, a vote that many people had to fight for, for many years, means, I think, that we ought to use that vote, whether this time around it makes a difference or not.

Protest without action = merely apathy imho.

I disagree with a lot of things but they are not all worth taking action over (or complaining about). I happen to view UK elections as one of those. If that is apathy then fine.

Most countries over a lengthy period of democracy gravitate to a central political position and then elections are just which side of the centre you come down on - and even that has been pretty muddled in the UK since 1990! Your vote makes very little difference compared to the impact of global events.

I don't actually complain much about politics but in fact by not voting I have personally lent no legitimacy to the democratic process of this country so why can't I complain if I want to? Surely people who vote should not complain. You have participated in the democratic process and in so doing given it your approval. You therefore have to accept the result and suck it up - No?

Also it is not like Govt alway honour their manifesto pledges and sometime push things through legislations which they have no business pushing through. If I was not given a chance to vote on those matters due to them not being included in a manifesto, why should I not be able to complain at a later date.

FWIW, I will be voting on June 4 but that is because there is a single local issue which has split our local parties and for once, my vote could make a difference. But where my vote does not make a difference I will not waste my time.

Someone mentioned that in Belgium, you can be punished for not voting by having your right to vote taken away.

LOL if true! But seriously - that I would respond to much better than a fine because the right to vote is something I value. It is just that, paradoxically, I want to chose when to exercise it.

Never voted infact have got my first voting card through last week and I'm not even sure what I would be voting for so therefore see no point in it!

Actually is it a big vote like PM thingy or just local government, I know nothing of either though TBH not even sure what party our MP is...

Must read up on boring oldsubject of politics me thinks....

Ok. So if, despite lots of research and going to hustings etc, you really don;t know who to vote for and/or think none of them are good enough.....

What do you do?

Because your vote is powerful.....?

Give it someone who you don';t really have faith in? Cos I think this is another reason many don;t vote.

I have been working on my MEP vote and I am still clueless....

I suppose you could go and spoil your ballot paper. That way you make a point and can be differentiated form those who just sit at home.

I wish they'd report the percentage of spoiled ballots though.

from not form

Hmmm intersting..