Suzanne Moore nails it.
I can, with some confidence, tell you who represents the majority of people in this week’s elections. No one. Most people will not vote. For all the headlines and hoo-ha of the political/media class, the big story is not Ukip and whether Farage worships Satan in a smoking jacket. The real issue is that people neither know what they are supposed to be voting for, nor see any point in doing so.
Yup. None of the above will be the winners today. I have finally made my decision about where to cast my vote. And it is none of the above. I am withholding it. Over the years I have come to despise the political class – those leeches that thrive on our misery and feed on our production and provide nothing of value in return. They seek our votes as a form of validation. Well, I am not going to validate them. We are supposed to be voting to decide who will represent us. I do not want anyone to represent me. I do not wish to cast a vote for any politician. Sure, I’ll richly enjoy it if Ukip wipes the smug smirks off the faces of Miliband, Cameron and Clegg, but it will be a fleeting moment of enjoyment before we return to yet more hectoring, nagging, nannying and outright theft.
So, no, you cannot have my vote. None of you are worthy of it.
Oh, and before some smartarse comes on and claims that those who do not vote get the government they deserve, fuck off already. We will get the same whatever we vote – or not.
I’d just like to point out that a spoilt vote counts more than not bothering to vote at all (since with the latter, they can’t tell the difference between “fuck off, all of you” and “I can’t be arsed to vote”).
I took a big black marker to my postal ballot and wrote a very naughty word diagonally across it….
Have spoiled papers ever changed anything? Will a massive Ukip vote change anything? About the only thing that will is what my father in law used to talk about – guns on the streets. A few politicians dangling from lamp posts might, just might, but the ballot box simply reinforces the status quo.
It all depends on how many people actually spoil them, of course. The last time there was a push for people to do it was the 2010 elections (http://www.spoilyourvote.co.uk/) but ‘not enough’ people did it.
If this was pushed more as a “NotA” option at *every* election, more people who are inclined to vote but don’t actually want to put an X down for any one person, then increasing numbers of spoint ballots will start getting noticed.
They do actually count the spoilt votes as they do those for the parties – it’s just that the numbers are so low at the moment that they don’t attract notice.
I’m with your other commentor. There was nobody running who I was prepared to vote for, so I spoiled my paper. Well, actually, I made it better.. but that’s by-the-bye. It’s the first time I’ve not been able to find a positive reason to vote for anyone.
Turning up matters, though. ‘Spolied’ ballots are a statement, a positive one, that you’re ready and willing to vote. The more people that do it, the better.
“Those who don’t vote can’t complain” is the refrain of the hard of thinking. There is a far better case for my claim that “Those who voted for the party that ends up in power can’t complain”.
“Those who don’t vote can’t complain” is the refrain of the hard of thinking. There is a far better case for my claim that “Those who voted for the party that ends up in power can’t complain”.
Actually, I did. In 1997, I voted labour and for the first time in my life, voted for the winners. I have since deeply regretted that. And whether it was my suffering from some sort of self-delusion or whether we were lied to, I did complain and took my vote away.
You get special dispensation then. (I think I did in 1997 too for that matter – I get the idea we have had similar political journeys actually from a lot of what you write).
Perhaps I shall ammend my claim to “those who say ‘Those who don’t vote can’t complain’ AND who voted for the party that endup in power” have no right to complain.
You get special dispensation then. (I think I did in 1997 too for that matter – I get the idea we have had similar political journeys actually from a lot of what you write).
Perhaps I shall ammend my claim to “those who say ‘Those who don’t vote can’t complain’ AND who voted for the party that endup in power” have no right to complain.