This afternoon I received a phone call from a nice gentleman who was conducting a telephone questionnaire last weeks voting for the UK local elections. According to statistics, just over a third of the electorate voted in 3rd May's 2012 local election. A third! I was actually annoyed and appalled when I heard this statistic. Some people really enjoy the fact that the UK is meant to be a fair and free country, however when it comes to exercising this right, people become apathetic. Here are some of the reasons I have heard for people who do not vote:
- "Voting won't make any difference" - what I think doesn't matter. This is a popular reason for people not engaging with the political system. But during the London 2012 mayoral elections the votes ran very closely between the two main candidates. The number of votes which declared Boris Johnson the mayor was extremely marginal a mere 3%. This shows that individual votes do count.
- "There's no choice between the main political parties, they are all the same. Yes I agree with the view that the three main UK political parties do appear to be similar, especially with the leaders of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats all having the same hair colour. However, there are differences in policies election promises. Do your research, find out what separates them? Vote for other parties if your beliefs dont align with the main parties, it's your responsibility to. Also if the main parties are not giving you what you want, get involved
in trying to change something that really matters to you by becoming part of a local politics or community initiatives.
- "I don't really care"- So, yes this is also true, some people don't care. They don't care about how much tax they have to pay, they don't care how many people are unemployed, they don't care if they can go to university without getting a loan and they don't care how often their local streets are cleaned. So if this is the actual case, never vote; but in the same vein, never complain about any of the things that are listed above.
- I'm too busy. Some people are busy, like lawyers, parents, doctors and nurses. However, the act of voting takes very little time, polling stations are conveniently placed in areas where people can access them easily. My polling station for example is located a mere two minute walk away. The act itself took me less than five minutes from start to finish.
- The voting system is unfair. I won't go in to much detail but some people believe that the "first past the post" voting system which is used in UK general and local elections isn't representative enough. Liberal democrats election promise was to do away with exactly this, and a referendum was called on the voting system. The findings were that most people wanted to stay with the current voting system and not the alternative voting system, or proportional representation. A form of proportional representation was used in the 2012 London Mayoral election.
So what I am trying to say is that voting is a duty which should be carried out by every one who can. People are dying for their right to vote as we speak. Therefore, I see no point in wasting it, use it as best as you can.
