I didn’t vote on Thursday. I live in London, so it would only have been in the European elections, not the local, had I done so. Didn’t though.
My workmates are unanimously shocked and appalled that I’d wilfully refuse to do my democratic duty. I have done nothing whatsoever to keep the BNP out of London (though, I must admit, I am secretly pleased to see that they didn’t get in down here anyway). I couldn’t have complained if they had though. No vote = no say. More than that, my ancestors died for my right to vote, dammit, and I’ve betrayed them. And what about those living under the thumb of the Mugabes of this world, they’d give anything to be in my position!
There are a number of reasons for my failure/refusal to vote, many of them inconsistent and some of them even incompatible, I expect. But still. My reasoning was as follows:
1. Voting is basically irrational. No election was ever won or lost on 1 measly vote, but that’s all I’ve got. My contribution, were I to positively make one, makes precisely zero difference to the result. The result, it should be said, is all that matters here. I don’t buy that shit about participation for the sake of it. I’m not a lemming; give me a proper say or don’t, but let’s not pretend that 1 vote, diluted by thousands of others, counts as such.
2. Booooring. We live in a digital age. I can choose pretty much everything else I want at the click of a button, but I have to order, complete and post a voter registration form? By snail mail? Then, just in case that isn’t active or time-consuming enough, I have to walk to a polling station? (I could have done a postal vote, I admit, but that takes advanced registration, dammit, and I don’t do anything in advance.) This isn’t actually much of a reason for not voting. It probably was a factor, though, if I’m honest.
3. Not voting can be every bit as principled as voting. The big thing here is legitimacy. Turnout in Western elections is so low nowadays that legitimacy must be called seriously into question. Proportional voting systems, such as that used for Thursday’s European elections, are certainly a step up from first past the post, such as used in Westminster, but it’s impossible to avoid the turnout thing. How can it be legitimate, for example, for Nick Griffin (BNP) to represent the people of North West England, when only 8% of them voted for him? That’s a crashing 92% that didn’t. Nationally, only 34% of people cast their votes one way or another. That, for the eagle-eyed amongst you, is a minority. Despite this, though, those elected to the European Parliament will represent 100% of the inhabitants of this island. Frankly, that isn’t good enough for me. Every vote cast further legitimises a pretty bankrupt institution, I would argue.
While I’m at it, I want to knock down a few of the statements made about non-voting.
“If everybody thought like that, nobody would turn out”
Everybody doesn’t, though. As I said above, I only have one vote and my decision to not use it has no bearing whatsoever on anybody else’s. I’m not responsible for how other people think, so don’t flipping expect me to be so.
“Our forefathers died for the right to vote”
True, but our forefathers, busy fellows that they were, also died for the freedom to worship. Am I in any way compelled to believe in God? Why is it any different for voting?
“People living in non-democracies wouldn’t take a vote for granted”
Maybe not, but, just because a representative democracy is better than, say, a dictatorship, doesn’t mean it’s the acme of political and social evolution. Plus, there’s always someone, somewhere that’s worse off. This looks like an argument for stasis. Even Iran has some democracy. Haven’t they got the right to hold out for a better system?
“If you don’t vote, you can’t complain”
What? Why? Who says I have to play by the rules of the current system, whatever that may be? I may have missed a meeting, but I don’t recall being consulted as to whether one poxy vote was enough for me to be ruled for 5 years, in whatever way.
If I sound like an anarchist now, it’s because I sort of am. Not because I believe in freedom, anarchism, or self-government, but because I’m not really up for reinforcing the rules of the current system. It’s pretty rubbish and I won’t apologise for saying so. Trey Parker and Matt Stone
agree with me too.