Interesting insight about voting

[lechiffre55]

This twitter thread Glinner linked has some interesting insight from the inside about questions on the doorstep.

https://x.com/supertolerant/status/1808637781138129244

It also reminds me that when I do get doorstepped, one of the first questions I often get is something along the lines of:

Are you going to be voting?
Do you vote?
Are you thinking of voting?

And I never realised how important that question was until I read the thread Glinner linked. Now I can see it's a really important question.

Good thread. For those not on Twitter, here's the unroll threadreaderapp.com/thread/1808637781138129244.html

I really stress this.

Spoil your ballot rather than don't vote.

It makes a statement that your vote is available and has been lost. You are a person who always votes, therefore you are of value to political parties.

They do look at them at the count.

If your seat is marginal this is even more important. Candidates will want every ballot counted - if they can argue you have indicated a clear preference - even if it's not a big X they will try and get It counted.

For the next election you are then part of a crucial group to be considered and targeted.

Not that it makes the slightest difference, but for the sake of correcting a mistake I made it was Wings Over Scotland not Glinner who linked that.
I don't think anyone cares, but just trying to be honest.

Hmm, perhaps I'll be more cautious in my dealings with canvassers in future...

I am amazed people do not know this! What do they think canvassing is for? It's to get the vote out - not to let you ask questions about what a woman is (though asking it will make them think). Advice to spoil ballot is probably good* - the spoiled ballots are all viewed to make sure no votes are missed and they are read at least by the candidates' agents or counting agents (this is the person each candidate has to keep an eye on the actual counting to make sure nothing slipshod happens or ballot papers are missed - any suspicion of such can lead to a recount if the result is close).
As to leafletting, yup. Areas are not random.
I have not been canvassed in years, presumably because I am a member of a party, thus unlikely to change my vote (hasn't filtered through to some that this might not be the case).

*Though one wonders at Glinner's reasons for promoting it.

I didn't understand the maths of it.

The example said:
Labour 800
SNP 600
Conservative 300
Lib Dem 200
Spoiled. 19

Turnout: 50%

You might think you win this time by getting 300 voters to switch. Sounds like a lot of work.

Here’s what you do.

50% turnout means it’s likely 600 of your voters never went to the polling station. That’s plenty. You find them and make sure they go and vote. Drive them there if you have to.

Then you win.

But if you switch 100 labour voters, 100 Lib Dems and 100 SNP then your total is 600 and Labour's is still 700. They still win.

Also how does 50% turn out suggest 600 Tory voters didn't vote? If 50% of them did vote, and added up to 300, then surely the other 50% also add up to 300, making your combined total 600. Still losing against Labour's 800.

Am I misinterpreting the maths or is this example a crock of misinformation?

Why I are you looking at the Conservatives? "You" are the SNP in this situation.

DUH!! Thank you. I have no idea. I was on a couple of chats about the tories earlier and must have not realised I'd swapped threads.

Not the maths, then. Just the entire brain.

I've just been to pick up DS from school. There was someone coming out of a house with a clip board with a labour sticker on it. They were clearly checking that their registered supporter at that address had turned out and they were crossing them off the list.

Parties have lists of voters they want to help to vote - they do go around and check on the elderly in particular to ensure they have a means to get to vote.

This is why I am going to mark my paper by writing WOMAN = ADULT HUMAN FEMALE across my choice of candidate, rather than by touching the box. Make it one they will have to look at and agree about - I hope.

Like this.

I did not choose Conservative because I like them (I don't) but because Reform's policies are repugnant to me and all the others are committed to anti-women, anti-safeguarding policies. So I voted for an Opposition. We need a strong opposition, not piecemeal bartering. And the way things look right now, the Tories are the only opposition party who might argue against the destruction of our rights. They need to be strong enough not to barter our rights away in exchange for something else that may want.

(Though I wish I'd written more neatly.)

I did this today and am being ridiculed on another thread by Labour voters.

I did it because I wanted to engage in the process but I genuinely felt that none of the candidates were worthy of my vote.

I am ok with it but also sad that I could not vote for a decent candidate.

Am intrigued by this. It certainly isn't new. Have seen various versions of this over the years.

It seems like something from a few decades ago, or maybe a small rural constituency.

In an inner city area, unless your party had the most enourmous army of keen volunteers, it would be impossible to make an impact using these tactics.

Although can see that in a marginal, some version of this might be being used by the parties who think they have a slim chance of winning.

Isn't the weather on polling day meant to be one of the most influential factors?!

Which is why I spoiled my ballot rather than not voting.

Isn't the weather on polling day meant to be one of the most influential factors?!

Apparently not, according to the BBC:

www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c888e963025o

I thought that was the case - but weirdly at about 5pm today we had a labour person knock on our door. Fine, maybe we're on a list of potential labour voters somewhere (although we've had no canvassers from any party since we moved to this house 5 years ago). But there was a few of them, one knocking on next door, and two knocking on houses directly opposite.

I would be extremely surprised if our next door neighbours were down to vote labour given some of the conversations we've had with them. Plus knocking on the two houses opposite didn't look like a targeted attempt to get out sure fire voters.

Were they just knocking on everyone's doors? Are they just very badly organised? Am I wrong about my neighbours and they're actually guaranteed votes that labour really want to make sure they get?

Labour voter here. I also spoiled my ballot, making clear why.

Yes I made it clear too. I am glad that there are more of us - what the posters mocking me did not realise is that I used to vote Labour but cannot now and maybe never again. It is a betrayal.

It also reminds me that when I do get doorstepped, one of the first questions I often get is something along the lines of:

Are you going to be voting?
Do you vote?
Are you thinking of voting?

It was always "Hello, I am representing xxxxxx. Can we count on your support? when I used to do it. No asking anyone about what they were voting as it is not allowed.

Then masses of paper charts and highlighter pens later, the people with cars were sent out to offer lifts to the ones that hadn't made it to the polling station.

I thought everyone knew this? One of my neighbours used to promise everyone in the hope of a car ride 🤣

I used to live in an "indicator seat" which is always going to be of interest to the pundits. The "agents office" had visits from reporters from the big papers to see how it was all going. My house ended up described in the Financial Times.

Sounds a bit exaggerated to me. I think I've been doorstepped twice in my life. I'm 52. And surely most people are at work on the morning of an election? I suppose more people wfh now though.