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.
Expect a knock on the door soon. I jest gave P Diddy yo address Anarchist Boy!
ReplyDelete1. Voting is basically irrational.
ReplyDeleteIf you were doing something worthwhile with your time this might be technically correct. The little effort required to vote (see point 2) relative to the amount of time that you waste/spend doing nothing means the sums do not add up.
2. Booooring. We live in a digital age.
You’re just being lazy. Would you really want a computerised database which could possibly record peoples’ votes/mess up peoples’ votes (as electronic voting machines really did in Florida 2000).? It really isn’t that much effort.
3. Not voting can be every bit as principled as voting.
Why not turn up and spoil you ballot paper – a far more principled stand as you have shown a minimal level of effort. Destroying a ballot paper is a far more political act than staying away and doing nothing.
Basically, I think it’s a bit lame to moan about low turnouts meaning a lack of legitimacy when you are not bothering to do anything political outside of voting yourself. You complain about a lack of choice but don’t do anything about it. I think you might be in a vicious circle whereby you don’t want to vote for anyone as they don’t represent your views but at the same time you cannot be bothered to do anything else as it would be (in your mind) irrational as the chances for bring about change are so low required for the effort.
I think we would all agree that democracy isn’t just about elections anyway.
I'm going to the pub tonight, so I'll respond now.
ReplyDelete1. I don’t think your point addresses mine. I’m saying that it’s irrational to vote when one single x doesn’t do anything. As I said, no election has ever been won or lost by a single vote. Ergo, it’s irrational to place too much emphasis on the same.
2. Yes, it is laziness. I won’t pretend otherwise. However, I do think it’s ridiculous the lengths we have to go to to cast a vote. Comparable tasks in this day and age are getting simpler all the time. Voting should go the same way (though obviously not as was the case in Florida in 2000 – you would have thought there would be a happy medium somewhere).
3. Spoilt ballot papers aren’t counted, they just go down in exactly the same way as non-votes. How is that any more of a political act?
I think you could find an easier target for someone that doesn’t bother to do anything political outside of (non)voting seeing as I keep a political blog, work for a political charity and recently worked in the Houses of Parliament, in addition to my two politics degrees, of course. Anyway, I’m saying that non-voting can be a political act. By refusing to participate in our democracy I’m further removing what little legitimacy the institution still has. The reason we need political reform in this country (well, one reason) is because so few people vote. I’m adding to that number, thus I’m adding my little voice to the call for reform. Non?
Finally, you’re right, democracy isn’t just about elections, but they certainly make up a (in)significant part of it. I don’t really understand your point here.