EU elections-how to vote?

[BercowsSilkTie]

I've never voted in the EU elections before but want to do so this time round. I'm registered to vote and have my polling card for the local elections. Do I have to register specifically for the EU ones? Do they campaign? I've never known of anything locally before but to be fair, until the last couple of years, I haven't had much interest in politics.

Thanks, but I'll vote for an MEP that actually bothers to turn up and work for me and my area.

That's both UKIP and Nigel Farage's brexitparty.com ruled out.

Proportional Representation means they Will get loads of seats.. Shame that.

Mummmy2017 how do you make it that the EU have 'lost'?

What have they lost, exactly?

Surely it's us who have lost. Billions down the Swanee, and fuck all to show for it. We have no deal that parliament will vote for, and the leave date has come and gone and we are still in the EU. The country is bitterly divided, and absolutely nobody has got, or will get, what they wanted. Our political system is imploding, votes are being nobbled by hostile foreign powers, and we have a concerted attempt to push the far right to prominence.

It's not the EU who has lost, here.

They said no extension, in or out March deadline.... So we all geared up, and now we have a 2nd extension....

?? So?

Is this why you think they 'lost'?

There was someone on BBC news yesterday saying "Why do we vote in Euro elections, no-one knows how the EU works?" Which, in a way seems to be true for a lot of people (see this thread) but also why the referendum was so foolish.

I think you think the deadline was a far bigger issue for them than it actually was.

On the whole, despite us having been a massive, entitled, PITA over the years, I think the EU would rather we stay than go. Extending the deadline leaves more room for that. I doubt they think they have lost.

Says a lot for our education system, and media, doesn't it, SwedishEdith?

Not to mention the utter, jaw-dropping stupidity of putting it to a referendum in the first place, which of course, goes without saying.

I didn't have a clue about EU elections.

I was under the impression the EU were undemocratic and unelected. Turns out not.

Will be voting for a remain MEP.

The two main parties have gained power and influence because they were “broad churches”...

Surely Change UK / Lib Dem’s / Greens should recognise that a band together into some kind of alliance like the SDP- Liberal Alliance is the 80s. I know what didn’t quite work out, but it came pretty close!

At the very least they shouldn’t be competing against each other at the EU elections - it’s sheer stupidity to split the vote like that!

Also, the more of a bloc it forms, the more it is likely to gain momentum (no pun intended) and peel off the many wavering centrist Tories and Labour MPs who sit so uneasily in their parties currently.

I firmly believe that politics should be taught at school. Until the last two years I knew next to nothing about politics. It wasn't discussed at home really and school certainly never taught us anything. Despite growing up in the UK from birth, I knew nothing of the political history here. I've taught myself about how Northern Ireland came to be part of the UK and why brexit and the GFA don't mix.
I'm annoyed that these topics weren't discussed either at home or at school. I had brothers stationed in NI ffs and nothing was discussed. Except admitting to being Catholic would be worse and not get you out of any trouble you found yourself in
How the EU works was never even mentioned and despite being part of the EU, everyone refers to the EU as something apart from us rather than something we are part of. If everyone knew more about the EU and how it works along with all the benefits of membership then things would have been different. No them and us attitude for a start. We are them. We are not separate. Unless you're talking geographically because we are an island.
Now we talk about politics a lot so that my children will grow up knowing far more than I ever did and have an interest in how the country is run. I hope they will continue to grow up as part of the EU and all the benefits that brings.

I would vote Green, Lib Dem or Change UK. Whichever is likely to be strongest in your area. Voting against Brexit is more important to me than any smaller issues such as self ID. I'm against self ID but Brexit is fundamental. There needs to be a strong a remain voice that cannot be ignored. Voting Labour (or Conservative obs) just says Brexit is OK.

I firmly believe that politics should be taught at school.

I agree. But I don't think the government want us to know.

I would vote Green, Lib Dem or Change UK. Whichever is likely to be strongest in your area

Take a look at Renew, too.

I was quite enthusiastic about Change - but lets face it, some of them were Tories, even if they were soft Tories. Sarah Wollaston was in favour of Leave until Jo Cox was murdered.

But that said, it's really important for the remain parties to work together and at the moment I am not seeing much sign of that. Molly from the Greens was complaining yesterday that Change candidates may not be politically experienced (personally I would have thought that was a good thing). Change are saying they are the only true remain party.

You'll get your EU polling card just as you do for any other election - the card tells you where you go to vote and the hours you can go - i think that's usually between 7am-10pm and the location is usually pretty close to your 'electoral address'. Though not always if you're ultra-rural.

It's probably a bit late to register for a postal vote for the upcoming Local Elections;nthere's lots of types and tiers of governance so, you have many Elections over your lifetime to vote in, it's never a done deal nor ever over....

A really good by-product of 'Brexit' is that it has increased the population's interest in their own politics - the realization that their
right to vote is one that they have and can use and should use more often and in every election is a very, very good thing.
right to vote is quit

no idea why "right to vote is quit" is there or what it means... i should preview before posting.

OP, nosey question, are you very young?

I'm surprised that a passionate Remainer doesn't know anything about EU elections, that's all. But if you haven't been old enough to vote for very long, that makes sense.

Oh I thought we were ruled from the EU by unelected bureaucrats?

"Oh I thought we were ruled from the EU by unelected bureaucrats?"

That was another porky pie from the liars with the bus.

You have until 5pm on Monday to register for a postal vote.

Vince Cable suggested to the other Remain groups that they should co-operate for the EU elections but they refused, so to avoid splitting the Remain vote, you should vote Liberal Democrat.

That totally depends on where you are.

In Scotland a LibDem "Remain" vote may well be a wasted vote and actually let in a Turquoise or Purple Leave Party (we currently have a single odious and execrable UKIP MEP - the only elected UKIP representative in any capacity in Scotland - who only got in for the 1st time in 2014 because of the collapse in the LibDem vote and which doesn't look to have recovered ).

Green or SNP are a better Remain bet in Scotland

UKIP's rapey-jokey new candidates are not entirely popular:

www.channel4.com/news/ukip-launch-eu-election-campaign-amid-candidate-controversy

Forget UKIP - opinion in The Scotsman ;

www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/brian-monteith-the-brexit-party-should-not-be-written-off-in-scotland-1-4907323

"I expect the freshness of the Brexit Party and the pulling power of its charismatic yet Marmite leader Nigel Farage to help it grow, to the cost of Ukip support."

Some private polling I have seen suggests the SNP could lose 17 per cent of its vote to the Brexit Party.

Don't forget the SNP

YouGov has them projected to get 3 (if not 4 ) seats, with Labour, Green and that other Leave party getting the other 3. One of the projections has a tie between the turquoise party and the 4th SNP seat and just possibly a Conservative seat (although their vote looks to have collapsed in the same way that the LibDem vote did in 2014)

I suspect the actually result will be somewhere in between.