Why don't more people vote?
Submitted by Anthony Tuffin on Fri, 12/09/2008 - 21:57
In response to Question 9 of the Government's consultation (which ends on Friday 26 September 2008) about why more people don't vote and whether it would help to have weekend voting, I have replied:
"I live in the safe Conservative constituency of Chichester. Voting Labour or Liberal Democrat would not help to elect a Labour or Liberal Democrat MP or Government because neither party can win the seat. Voting Conservative would not help to elect an extra Conservative MP or a Conservative Government because the party will win the seat anyway.
Because the parties know my vote would make no difference, they do not particularly want it and are not interested in my views or needs. They concentrate most of their financial and other resources on marginal constituencies. They ignore me, so why shouldn't I ignore them?
You tell me why I should vote on a Thursday, Saturday or any other day until MPs are elected by STV, so my vote can count and politicians will compete for it."
To send your own response, please visit www.makevotescount.org.uk.
The consultation document asks nine questions and No. 9 is the most important for electoral reformers, as it is a general one that gives reformers the best opportunity to suggest more people would vote if their votes were more effective than they are now.
Whichever of the other questions you do or do not answer do please answer Question 9. However, it is also worth answering others as well. It need not take long. For example, Question 1 asks which day should be polling day and you can reply that that matters less than having a voting system, such as STV, that would make voting more worthwhile. Another example is Question 4, which asks about remote voting and, again you can comment that you would find a vote that counted a better encouragement to vote.
Remember the Government's own review of voting systems in January this year reported that proportional systems were found, on international comparison, to be associated with higher voter turnout than First Past the Post and other majoritarian systems.