to not use my vote at the election

[ThatVikRinA22]

bracing myself...

but i dont believe in any of the policies ive not seen so far - ive no idea who stands for what. no one is canvassing in our area and i think politicians are full of shit anyway.

so for the first time ever i dont think im going to vote at all. cant see the point in voting for a party (any party?) when i dont understand what they stand for and dont know what that is anyway.

yes i know what women did 100 years ago to ge the vote etc etc but is sticking a X in a box at random any better than not voting? id have to go eeny meeny miney moe....

for the record when this thread goes tits up im hiding it....and probably name changing

tilly your link wont work for me.

tbh i hadnt thought about the BNP and yes, i do live somewhere where they might do well, unfortunately.

but how does me spoiling my ballet paper of voting for a minor party stop that?

why should i vote for any party that couldnt even be bothered to do a leaflet drop? or outline its policies locally.

ive seen a policy leaflet for our tory mp - not at my house but i saw one - load of bollocks. smug looking tory wazzer who looks like he stepped straight out of mens knit ware catalouge, standing meaningfully outside the police station, outside schools, but in reality it said very little about what his intentions were.

labour couldnt be arsed. nothing from lib dems or greens, and i believe we have a UKIP candidate - nothing from him either.

so if i dont believe any of them, i should still vote anyway? because i can?

It's not all about them coming to you. Take some civic responsibility! Put yourself out and stop bleating about "why should you?" and have a serious think about it instead of being so unutterably idle.

no. so bog off and learn to read posts properly. im not sat in waiting for all the parties to come and present me with their policies - but a few leaflets on local policy wouldnt go amiss.
if i dont want to vote then i wont and thats my right just as much as voting is. im far from idle, but if it suits you to call me names then carry on.
wont make me rush off to the polling booth though.

Oh, and incidentally, seats can turn on a smattering of votes. There is an MP in Crawley, I think it is, who beat her nearest rival by a mere 37 votes. In an election when it could be quite close, everyone's vote is important.

But everyone's vote is important anyway. Otherwise it is like saying you don't give a toss that you live in a democracy, which is a very teenage, indolent and overprivileged Westerner thing to say. And it makes me cross!

There should be a noine of the above oprion

Although wrt to canvassers you can learn a lot from the party websites wrt policies I think (how much you can beleive of course....), if you wouldn't vote for a main party look through all the policies of the little ones in your area see what makes you tick, for example I like the Green approach to carers / disabled / SAHM / sick / other non working group or low income security.

There's got to be something you care about surely?

It is you right to vote but hey you know how it goes- you posted in AIBU so you don't have a right to be annoyed when people reply with an opinion

Well, congratulations. If you had a coherent reason for not voting I would have more sympathy, but you don't. You started this rather attention seeking thread, and you knew people what people would deduce about you from it and the really, REALLY sad thing is, I doubt you are an isolated case!

yes, im teenaged indolent and overprivilaged. NOT.

LadyThompson, your not making a very reasoned argument to simply call me names, are you?

you are totally missing the point LT.

There is numerous papers online (can't access any of them) that say it's still the best way to get undecided voters out.

And why shouldn't politicians be making an effort to make sure EVERYONE (not just the literate, technical, mobile ones) knows who they are and what they're "for"?

We on MN (or even those other over on NM's ) are not representative of the entire voting population.

Why would someone want to vote for someone that they know nothing about, whose policies they don't understand - have you actually been to say (for example) the Tory website and looked at their draft manifesto.

Yes you may understand it - but many won't. I'm not sure I would have the time or patience to read through it all anyhow.......it does rather drone on.

Many people won't know you can go to the library to read them (I'll be honest here - it wouldn't have occured to me), many may read them and just see words on a page that mean nothing and that will never happen.

If political parties want to get people to engage with politics.........they need to engage with people.

And I will vote, as usual, but I still maintain that the right to vote is just that a right.

Dear 'Vicar', I posted quite sensibly above, thanks. You asked if you were being unreasonable not to vote. In my opinion, yes, you are, and your reasons for not doing so are uncompelling, at best. If you don't like that, I'm not sure why you started the thread.

Toccata, I do believe that politicians should canvas. But I think there is a plethora of info available in various different media, particularly on the web, and as I believe it is a citizen's duty if not to vote AT LEAST attempt to engage with the issues. It's not hard. Even a cursory glance at a newspaper and watching the news everyday would impart at least SOME impression of what's going on, even if the sheer effort of, saying, glancing at a website is too much for someone to cope with.

Toccata -you seem to be taking the flack for the OP. Are you some kind of human shield/bouncer ?

sorry, I had forgotten to read page 3. I see you are back Vicar

"particularly on the web, "

and what about those that don't have access to the web??

There was a recent campaign for something or other (maybe swine flu, bird flu, or something such like - we all got leaflets throug the door irrc) it had minimal information on it..........and told you to look on-line for more information......I was .

I haven't read a newspaper for months, I rarely watch the news of TV (and tbh when it does there's not really much about policies on it - just a whole laod of "DC said GB was this and GB said DC it that".........the "policies" are condensed down into 5 minute party political broadcasts...........)

There is a thread under politics about first time voting where I have posted links to comparative lists of the main threes policies which is a good place to start.

If you don't want to vote someone in, vote to keep someone else out, vote tactically. You may not be being canvassed if you live in a dead cert seat - like I do - nobody bothers really as they know the Conservative candidate will win.

TandF, I personally think that political parties are more engaged than ever, live TV debates, Twitter campaigns, live Facebook webchats, TV interviews with PMs, articles in this months Company magazine (and others, I'm sure), Spotify, webchats with forums, on the radio frequently and of course newspapers.

The things are all there for people to take an interest in, I genuinely don't think they could be doing anymore than they already are!

Ok, so the recent expenses scandals. every main party was involved. so do i want any of those people to speak for me? represent me? no.

how many politicians are doing the job to line their own pockets?

why should i vote for someone i dont believe in or trust just because i can?

ive never not voted before. this time if a party wants my vote then they can explain why i should vote for them. and if they cant be arsed to send me a leaflet or knock on my door and talk to me then so be it. ill exercise my right not to vote at all.

I was referring to the OP, Toccata, who is whining about how she 'doesn't understand what they stand for and doesn't know what that is anyway' - or something And she clearly does have access to the web.

Yes, I agree it can be disenfranchising for those without access to online material but that is a separate point and a separate thread. And I disagree with you about the papers: a quality paper and a bit of listening to Radio 4 or whatever (or even the tv news) and one could get more than a hint of what was going on.

what do you disagree with me about the papers? That I haven't read one for months

Tocatta im sorry your taking flak for me - but thankyou.

i dont read papers, i dont buy them, i dont watch the news either. i rarely see any telly until late at night.

i lead a very busy life, i have 2 jobs, (one of which is voluntary to help my local community - i am a special constable), i have 2 children one of whom is special needs, and i have no extended family, so my 24 hours a day are used up and more quite often.

if a party wants my vote, they can explain why i should. and if i dont want to use my vote to give power to someone i dont believe in then that is my right.

No, you said there isn't much about actual policies reported in the newspapers - I am saying I disagree ALTHOUGH obviously it depends which paper you read. Some of them are only interested in the vacillations of Cheryl Cole's love life.

am off to work now.
ciao.

I think we all need to take some responsibility for taking an interest and engaging.

It is in our interest to vote, we live in a democracy, the only people we are potentially harming by not voting is ourselves/society. It isn't anyones responsibility to persuade you to take an interest.

Yes, of course politicians can tout for your vote but let's say a Lib Dem activist knocks at your door and explains why you should vote for them but nobody from any other party does. Will you just vote Lib Dem as they bothered to knock/call?

no I didn't I said there wasn't much fo policies reported on the news

am off too if you can't even be arsed to read my posts.

I wouldn't have a fucking clue what the papers do or don't say as I don't read them.

YANBU implicit in the right to vote is the right not to vote. However if you want to assuade a feeling of apathy a spoiled vote is a good alternative as at least they'll register in the final count.

Ah, well I simply misunderstood you, sorry. But if you are going to be that offended by my misreading your post on quite an innocuous point, probably best you do go. Byeee!

Oh gosh, please tell me there are some informed voters out there, who care and take an interest (even a vague interest!) in the issues of the day.

just to give you some idea of effort it takes and why it is concentrated in areas that effort is rewarded in terms of making a difference:

It takes Approx one hour to deliver 100 leaflets, one hour to canvas 15-20 people (ish)
about a day for 3-4 people to fold and bundle 4000 leaflets. Canvassing tends to be specialised and you get far fewer volunteers who are confident enough to do it.

lots of activists (all volunteers) also have full time jobs and also many are councillors who also still have case work.

There are also budget constrains, both because smaller parties don't have the funds of Tories/Labour and then during the elction period all will have a budget.

Vicar, will try with the link again