Is there any point in voting?

[Rosieeo]

Me personally, I mean? (call me a thicko if you want, I do feel very ignorant today)

I live in an area where the current MP will be elected again. There is no way that either of the other two parties will gain a seat.

So am I right in thinking that my vote is irrelevant?

Whether or not you feel it's irrelevant, I think you would be foolish to 'waste' your vote. We are v lucky indeed to live in a democracy and to squander our right to vote makes a mockery of people who do not have that right, I feel. People have died and continue to die for voting rights - please don't waste yours.

Sorry if that came over a bit 'holier than thou' - I just feel v strongly about this. Gets off soap box and puts on kettle.

You're probably right. The only way would be if you/voters in your area were to work out which party they want & then all agree in advance, & so oust the current MP. My problem is to work out who I want to vote for! I heard a radio interview by Caroline Lucas from the Green Party today. She sounded so fair & reasonable, I'll probably vote for her. Will it be a wasted vote? At least if enough of us do it, the main parties might notice & ask why.

It's not a good idea to just not vote, though. It's a hard-won priviledge, no? The countries with the highest voter turnout are the ones where people have the most to gain from change, and often put their lives in danger in order to vote. I feel that apathy is an enemy to be resisted!

In a sense it is irrelevant, but turning out anyway and voting for the candidate of your choice is the biggest protest you can make.

Every vote which is counted makes the true percentage of the eventual winner's popular vote more accurate.

For example, the statistics show that Labour won the last election with 34% of the nation's vote. But only 60% of the nation actually bothered showing up - probably because they were stuck in 'safe seats' like the one you (and myself, as it happens) are in. So Labour actually only won with 20% of the nation's vote, and more people didn't bother than actually voted for them.

Who knows what would have happened had the other 40% of the population shown up and had their say.

If the result really is a foregone conclusion (and you don't want to vote for the winner) then I'd say there's no harm in not voting. Although, if the whole concept of safe constituencies in which your vote doesn't matter gets your goat, you could go and vote for the LibDems or one of the other parties that advocates proportional representation, just to improve their national stats.

I'm in a safe-as-houses seat where I have no chance of affecting the outcome, but I'll vote just because I get a kick out of it - I'm weird that way. But in an unjust electoral system that manufactures redundant votes by the hundreds of thousands, I don't think there's any shame in not voting.

I agree with everyone about having the right to vote and that we should take advantage of it. It just seems so futile.

I'd almost prefer that you HAD to vote, or had the option to vote for 'none of the above'. But really, what's the point in putting my mark on a piece of paper that's just going to go in the bin?

I want to vote! But just feel so about the whole thing.

You're right in thinking that your vote will (almost certainly) not affect the outcome this time round. It's the same for me - safe Labour seat since Noah was a boy. But voting for another party (or the one which is likely to win, for that matter) does make a difference to the overall figures, and to voter turnout figures, and possibly to future reform of the voting system - the fact that your vote doesn't make any difference is an important fact in itself, and lends weight to the argument about how we should change the system - the more "wasted" votes there are, the more chance the system might be changed!

I used to think that we ought to make voting compulsory. However I now think that would just ensure that the bloody BNP would become much more popular, so is to be avoided.

you could always spoil your ballot paper

I wonder how many OTHER people within your constituency are thinking exactly the same thing??? Maybe...just MAYBE....there's enough of you all sitting there thinking "I wont bother, it wont make a difference" to actually make a change. If you all FAIL TO VOTE your chosen party will never get into power. Think of your vote as a voice. If a lot of "voices" dont get up and sing, nobody will ever hear a thing!

EVERY vote counts. We're lucky we can do it, so (in my opinion) NO vote is a wasted vote.........the only wasted votes is a NONvote.