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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not understand why people won't go and vote?

85 replies

MilkNoSugarPlease · 04/04/2010 18:08

Sure this has been done to death but after a conversation with a friend I was curious

If you won't vote, WHY?

I dont understand the logic of "one vote wont make a difference" of course it will! if everyone had that mentality then noone would vote!

So I'm asking, if you won't vote, why not?

OP posts:

Tee2072 · 04/04/2010 18:11

Because I'm not a citizen and can't.

abbierhodes · 04/04/2010 18:13

I haven't voted for years because I don't know who to vote for. I disagree with some or all of the policies from each party, iyswim.

I'd like to make a decision this time as it's a general, plus I really fear the growing power of parties like the BNP, so would like to use my vote to counteract that...but I'm going to have to research carefully, and there will still be a compromise to be made.

Nothing to do with apathy here...I care too much, I think!

missmoopy · 04/04/2010 18:15

Women died for my right to vote, so I vote.

waitingforbedtime · 04/04/2010 18:19

I dont understand it either, it is a great thing to be able to vote.

I think if you dont feel strongly enough for one party you should just go with 'the lesser of teh evils' - sad but true. For example, if you'd prefer liberal dems to get in than BNP then vote lib dem or youre screwed really and cant complain when BNP are in power (am so hoping this never, ever happens)

ThePFJ · 04/04/2010 18:19

My father wants to not vote on purpose this time round. He has lost his faith in labour and won't vote conservative. Anyone else has a minimal chance of getting in. I said to him, if there was a 'NONE OF THE ABOVE - NO FAITH IN ANY OF THE BASTARDS' box would you go vote then? He said 'YES!!!!'

I think I agree with him...

YANBU - and I never thought of the counteracting BNP thing.. thats actually a very good point. I might pass that little pearl of wisdom on.....

xxx

missmoopy · 04/04/2010 18:25

"Evil prevails whilst good men do nothing" - if you do not vote and the BNP get in you might as well have voted for them.

I will be voting Labour even though i think they are a much, much diluted version of what labour once stood for. However if its that or the Torys, or even worse,BNP gettig in then there is no choice!

abbierhodes · 04/04/2010 18:35

Waitingforbedtime, I agree with you. I think I probably will vote lib dem, funnily enough. It's very difficult...I have very little faith in politicians. I think the nature of politics means that a certain type of person becomes a politician...not meaning to generalise, of course. I could easily list what I'd change if I could run the country, but in reality it's not that simple is it?

I had to do a PSHE lesson with a year 7 class recently about finance. They shared their views on the benefit system...their views were wonderfully simple, and refreshing, and non-discriminatory....slightly communist, I think!! I wish we could let them run the country. It's depressing to have to explain to them that the real world is more complicated, and we can't 'just all share'!

Sorry for the ramble. I just want to make it clear that not voting doesn't always mean not caring.

coldtits · 04/04/2010 18:46

When is the general election?

bloss · 04/04/2010 18:49

Message withdrawn

WidowWadman · 04/04/2010 18:56

I can't as I couldn't apply for citizenship in time as I simply can't afford it.

MillyMollyMoo · 04/04/2010 19:03

Isn't it illegal not to vote in Australia ? We should introduce that to the thousands of new laws made in the last 10 years although I suspect it wouldn't suit our current government.

tethersend · 04/04/2010 19:15

I don't understand- not voting doesn't mean you can opt out of being governed by the elected party.

No party is ever likely to reflect my own political beliefs wholeheartedly- even less likely an electable one; but knowing that one of the main parties is going to have a say in how I live my life, I research their policies and vote accordingly. I would also vote tactically if a party I strongly disagreed with were likely to win a seat in my borough.

Voting isn't necessarily about allaying yourself and your beliefs with those of an existing political party- it is about electing a government to do just that; govern.

lovechoc · 04/04/2010 19:18

but we live in a democratic society so surely you must respect others views on why they choose NOT to vote???

I couldn't give a toss what others do, but I do use my vote every year. I value the chance of being able to take part in deciding who may or may not run the country next.

onebatmother · 04/04/2010 19:23

I certainly feel a moral responsibility to vote. Firstly because, as missmoopy says, it is really not so very long ago that women couldn't do so; in some countries women are still unable to vote, either by law or because the patriarch owns her vote just as he effectively owns her.

I feel similarly that our version of democracy, though hugely flawed, is an enormous privilege. We have absolutely NO idea how envied we are by huge chunks of the world - people for whom a free vote is literally a matter of life and death; they risk their lives because, without democracy, their lives are barely worth living.

And - although the expenses scandal has revealed that our political class is as venal as the next, and the existence of lobbying is a shocking insult to the parliamentary system for which we are still famous - it doesn't come close to the absolute corruption which passes for democracy in many, many parts of the world.

onebatmother · 04/04/2010 19:25

Also, I feel that if I don't vote, I have no right to complain - or really think - about anything structural. And that would make me a bit of a drone.

tethersend · 04/04/2010 19:28

Doesn't mean you have to agree with their view, even though they have the right to hold it lovechoc.

In fact, isn't a characteristic of a democratic society having people express views you disagree with?

abbierhodes · 04/04/2010 19:31

Before I get flamed, I'd like to say I do agree with you all. I know I'm wrong not to vote, and I will try to do so this year. I just find it hard, that's all. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

lovechoc · 04/04/2010 19:32

I suppose it works either way - depends on how you look at it. I know a few young people who said to me last weekend that they won't be voting 'what's the point' and 'my vote won't make a difference' attitudes came across amongst them. I personally didn't agree with them but appreciate that they have their own views on politics so why bother arguing or disagreeing with them. My views on why I choose to vote won't help them change their mind!

RedBlueRed · 04/04/2010 19:33

I suspect apart from shortsighted apathy, its probably down to a misguided notion that they are making a statement.
Of course, it isn't a statement because it says nothing to anyone.

tethersend · 04/04/2010 19:35

I disagree, lovechoc- your apathy in not arguing compounds their apathy in not voting.

Isn't your saying 'I can't change their views' the same as them saying 'my vote won't make a difference?'

onebatmother · 04/04/2010 19:36

if a vote is not cast in a forest..

onebatmother · 04/04/2010 19:37

"My views on why I choose to vote won't help them change their mind!"

Well, that's not really true. People's views are often changed by listening to other people's opinions, otherwise politics wouldn't exist.

lovechoc · 04/04/2010 19:40

not really - you can't dictate to someone what they should or shouldn't be doing in life. it will just make them want to resist even more. esp with the 24 year olds I was chatting to last weekend (my DB and his friends).

I made it clear to them that I enjoy voting, and make a point of doing it every year and feel that I'm taking part in something important. What they choose to do is up to them.

tethersend · 04/04/2010 19:42

So what is the point of debating anything?

onebatmother · 04/04/2010 19:43

Well, no-one's suggesting you dictate to them. You don't have that power. You might have the power of persuasion though, and morally I think if you do, you should.

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