View Full Version : Local Elections
Tomorrow is the day of local elections and I wondered how many of you are going to make sure you cast your vote?
Those of you that do: Do you bother to read up on the candidates involved and vote for specific people whose policies closest match your own? Do you fall back on a general knowledge of the party you normally support and go with them? Other reasons?
Those of you that don't: Is it because you just don't feel involved in politics or is it just something that doesn't interest you? Do you feel that none of the candidates will make any difference and you only have the choice of a lesser of many evils? Other reasons?
I'm not necessarily expecting to get that many non voters in here.... I'm not sure people who don't want to vote will care about a local elections thread. Then again it depends on their reason for not voting :)
From my perspective I read up on the candidates themselves and their policies. I vote because it's my opportunity to be involved, I can hardly complain about the state of the country/local area if I don't bother to participate (in my opinion!).
Psymonkee
02-05-2012, 23:06
Read up on all the leaflets that have been thrust through the door and at least here there is very little between them all.
I'm most likely to vote for the only candidate that actually bothered to knock on my door who just happens to be my old maths teacher.
I always vote. Whether it's for the general election, local election, Welsh assembly, whatever. I moan enough about politics that it's only right that I do! :)
I'm going to have to spend some time in the morning reading up on the candidates though. Annoyingly, we've only had one person knock on the door about it or put a leaflet through the door (Labour) which is a bit rubbish. I prefer to vote according to whose policies match mine, although invariably it tends to be the same party as the general election.
Del Lardo
02-05-2012, 23:31
Local Labour and Lib Dem candidates have both been knocking at my door and seem desperate to tell me that the Conservative candidate cannot win and therefore I should vote for them.
As a result I will be voting for the Conservative candidate as:
a. I utterly despise negative campaigning.
b. If true I get to waste my vote whist actually voting.
c. In the case of Labour I'd rather cut my cock off than vote for someone in the same party as Harriet Harman.
I always vote as it gives me the excuse to be able to moan and complain! :D
Also, I don't want that **** Ken back in power.
I don't want Labour anywhere near any sort of power or control. Neither do I want the BNP in with a chance of getting more power.
As such I shall be casting my vote in such a way that this doesn't happen.
Dymetrie
03-05-2012, 08:40
As such I shall be casting my vote in such a way that this doesn't happen.
So you'll be voting for The Blonde Bombshell then? :p
I always vote as I find it atrocious that so many are lethargic about it and would rather bitch about "the state this country is in" to their mates down the pub than get off their collective arses and actually have a say in how the country is run, and I agree with Will that if you vote then you have a right to moan about things!
And relax...
I've been reading up on the policies of the London Mayoral candidates and two have quite definite points which are in line with things I'm concerned about (and everyone, apart from the amusing BNP candidate, has the proper major concerns on their manifesto) and so I'll be voting for the one I think is most likely to stand a chance of winning :)
The BNP manifesto is just laughable! ;D
Read up on all the leaflets that have been thrust through the door and at least here there is very little between them all.
I utterly despise negative campaigning.
These.
All the leaflets I've had say 'Labour can't win here' and that really gets my goat, even though I'm not a Labour supporter. Aside from that both the other main candidates have pretty identical pledges. I know where the polling station is, I have my polling card, but I really can't decide. :confused:
I have looked through to see what's happening and on offer but it just seems like I'm trying to pick the lesser of evils.
All the candidates seem like wet rags and have no life to them. I liked my local MP when I was in Exeter (even though he was for labour who I wasn't best impressed with) but he did a fantastic job around Exeter. Due to his passion and drive and response to the public I voted for him.
I just can't decide and probably won't this year. Sounds selfish and perhaps daft but I'm not in the Country for the next year and a half so don't feel I have the right to vote for something that won't be directly affecting me for the next few years!
:)
Even his name is funny.
BB x
Learnt why we only had a leaflet for Labour and no one else. There was only one other independent candidate. Everyone else was Labour :/
No Tory candidate, Lib Dem, Green, Plaid Cymru or anything.
What a joke!
We had 3x Independent 1x Scottish Labour 2x SNP 1x Scottish Lib Dem and 1x Scottish Conservative and Unionist.
Seems like there was more choice for us compared to some other wards. Mine was the first ballot cast in my polling station, I head off to work at 7am so just decided to go on the way.
TinkerBell
03-05-2012, 20:20
Even though it is pretty pointless for me to vote in my area as it has been Labour for many many years, I have added my vote to the pile.
I haven't really read up this time around, only thing I have read is the leaflet that came through the door. I know I don't want Labour, and I have always swayed towards conservative. Although they haven't been perfect. I think they are miles better than Labour.
We don't get a vote.
But if we did, I'd vote. They may be all much of a muchness and too busy playing 'not them because they're bad but we're no better' politics to be worth voting for, but if you don't vote when you can, you (should) forfeit your right to complain when they do something dumb/stupid/downright unfair.
Del Lardo
04-05-2012, 10:32
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17920848
"Estimated turnout is 32%"
Says it all really, we'll have a few days of Labour crowing about how the result shows that Mr Boggle Eyes will be the next PM and the Conservatives saying that it means nothing and Call Me Dave is certain to be reelected whilst they both conveniently forget to mention that a None of the Above would probably have got more votes than all of them put together.
I got to the booth and couldn't bring myself to vote for any of them so spoiled my paper, for the moment that's as close to my true feelings as I'm allowed to indicate.
TinkerBell
04-05-2012, 11:25
I was right, my vote was pointless!! Labour has even more of Birmingham now!
Turnout was 58% in 2007, this time 44%. Voter apathy much?
Still, the two councillors I wanted to see elected are in and I don't have any objections to the other 2 elected. So all in all not a bad result.
Detailed results not out for my council, but I checked the results for the adjacent council area. The amount of voters do didn't put a '1' next to any candidate is staggering, for most wards around 1 in 100 people made this mistake. Probably just as well their vote wasn't counted!
Ugh... Labour's winning seats all over the place.. that's what happens when you let poor people vote :p
Turnout was 58% in 2007, this time 44%. Voter apathy much?
Still, the two councillors I wanted to see elected are in and I don't have any objections to the other 2 elected. So all in all not a bad result.
The turnout was only 36% in my local area :/ Another part of the county, it was at 22%! So utterly frustrating to see.
Ugh... Labour's winning seats all over the place.. that's what happens when you let poor people vote :p
;D
Won round here which I'm happy about compared to the other options!
Psymonkee
04-05-2012, 21:30
Forgot to go on the way home from work and fell asleep after dinner, fail!
Guess that makes me one of the 68% :(
Still gonna bitch about the roads though :p
We don't get a vote.
Why?
I think an awful lot of Lib Dem voters have been utterly disillusioned by the actions of Big Nick, and I think that's had a negative effect on the numbers of people voting. He's almost singlehandedly ruined any chance the Lib Dems had of being a genuine competitor to the Lab/Con parties. If you voted for them before, who the hell do you go for now? I suppose that on the plus side we won't have to put up with people banging on the'I agree with Nick' drum and telling us how wonderful he'd be if LD were voted in. Don't see so much of that now after almost fanatical support from some corners in the last GE.
Why?
Because no-one dared ask us to vote for then. ;)
I don't get what you mean, Mark.
I assume Mark means that no one contested the seat in his constituency? I may have the wording wrong there as my sleepy brain isn't 100% of the right phrasing :o
I know not everywhere had elections though.
I know not everywhere had elections though.
And there we have it - hence the sly ;)
Could have just said that, tbh, would have been a lot easier. You might not be on the electoral roll for all I know, so I'd rather not make assumptions. Thanks Jen.
Well, it's farewell to Red Ken. Made too many enemies and paid the price. Getting caught out over his tax affairs probably didn't help, either.
Ugh... Labour's winning seats all over the place.. that's what happens when you let poor people vote :p
It's also what happens when everyone goes out and votes in LOCAL elections based on NATIONAL party politics that have absolutely nothing to do with it.
To me, all this round of locals has done is demonstrate a huge chunk of the general public are absolutely retarded.
If you voted for them before, who the hell do you go for now?
Well it was local council elections - so you vote for the person who will best serve you locally.
My comment wasn't really a serious one. ;)
You're right though.
I don't disagree with what you said, my post was more an expansion :p
Well it was local council elections - so you vote for the person who will best serve you locally.
I know, but a lot of people won't see it like that though, at least I don't think so.They're just totally disillusioned, won't vote for Lab or Con through traditional family persuasions and now see LD (who were always popular in my neck of the woods) as hand in hand with the Cons. Doesn't really affect us locally as we have a labour councillor who always wins with a big majority, this time it was over 75%. Imo we have an excellent, sensible council who act fast, put forward great initiatives, invest in the area, listen to their constituents, always reply when you contact them & don't buy into crap ideas like less bin collections etc, so that's fine with me.
I know, but a lot of people won't see it like that though, at least I don't think so.
Which is a shame really. It really says something about the quality of voting in this country when it seems that the majority of voters aren't even sure what they're voting for before choosing who they're going to vote for.
It's a complete waste of time really.
Agreed. What's the alternative though? So many people genuinely don't give a **** about politics, don't see how it affects them. Whoever was voting Conservative last election effectively put my job on the line, way before any of these austerity measures, but most won't realise that because they don't understand how it works.
Well it would be a start if people could just understand that a local election is not related to national politics and so whether they like Ed Miliband or think the current financial plans of the Conservatives are awesome should have absolutely no consequence on their vote.
They ought to give people a basic exam to register to vote, to see if people at least have the basic level of intelligence required to understand how to vote without just thinking HUUUUURRRRRR THE RED ONE, DON'T LIKE BLUE, THEY LIKE RICH PEOPLE
I think there should definitely be some 'teaching' of some sort. Many people grow up in families that have no idea about politics, so don't have a clue themselves, and don't know where to start. They just follow the same (often misguided ) ideology that their parents, and theirs before them, had. Politics & voting was never mentioned when I was at school, yet it is possibly one of the most important things people can do in their lives. What you say about intelligence tests is a step in the right direction, but you can't assume that someone who knows nothing about politics isn't intelligent, if you've ever been exposed to politics, you won't know how it works. They could be a rocket scientist. Doesn't make you stupid, just uneducated in that arena.
We did a course at school (can't remember the name of it) which comprised of (amongst other sujbects which escape me now) government (including politics, voting systems, political parties etc), economics & finance, swimming and a St John Ambulance first aid course. This was a long time ago now but I have to say it's a shame if this sort of thing isn't done elsewhere.
PSHE?
We did that if so, complete waste of time frankly, it was just an excuse to doss around for an hour a week.
Nope, we did nothing whatsoever related to politics, except domestic history.
PSHE?
We did that if so, complete waste of time frankly, it was just an excuse to doss around for an hour a week.
Nope it wasn't called anything like that, it was one specific to our school as I recall. Ours wasn't a waste of time, but then maybe school was different back then, or maybe just our shcool. To 'doss around' wasn't an option at our school, we actually worked in our lessons :p
Mockingbird
07-05-2012, 00:19
It's also what happens when everyone goes out and votes in LOCAL elections based on NATIONAL party politics that have absolutely nothing to do with it.
To me, all this round of locals has done is demonstrate a huge chunk of the general public are absolutely retarded.
Well it was local council elections - so you vote for the person who will best serve you locally.
I think many Labourites wasted their votes in the last general election by attempting to stage a protest against Brown which backfired. General elections are for the big, general, idealogically-centred 5 year+ plans that you've got to have personal faith in, and true Statesmanship to make it happen.
There is a huge amount of political complacency, outright retardness and disinterest in politics - everyone seems to be saying the same thing in the same accent in the same salesman's suit. It's become so anodyne that people simply don't understand how it's going to hit their communities and pockets
Council elections are indeed for the person best qualified and most likely to get the job done where you live. You might want a Tory government, but if your Conservative candidate's an alcoholic shoplifter you'd be better off ticking the bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed-with-a-politics-degree UKIP candidate's box, but all parties throw in 'losers' for what are deemed unwinnable seats - so where's the choice.
The tyranny of democracy, eh ?
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