Just under 70% of the people who are eligible to vote in this country did so in the recent election. That means almost a third of people didn’t bother. While it’s not the lowest turn out ever, I think it’s a pretty poor show considering who is in power can have a huge effect on everyone living here.
Why Wasn’t This Figure Higher?
That’s a good question. How can one third of the people not care enough about the future of the country to not turn 
out? Here are some of the reasons I’ve heard given:
I Don’t Care Who Wins
Wow. Just wow.
My Vote Won’t Make a Difference
If everyone thought like that, no one would turn out. The truth is, every vote counts, even if at times it feels like it doesn’t.
- In the last election, just 20 votes made a difference in one constituency and just 31 in another. Your vote does count when the difference in figures is so small.
- If Labour had received an extra 2227 votes, they would have been ahead of the Conservatives.
- If the Conservatives had received an extra 287 votes, they would have had a working majority without having to form an alliance with the DUP.
Still think your vote won’t make a difference?
I Don’t Know Anything About Politics
You know what? Neither do most people. But we make an effort to learn because we care about the future of the country. Ask yourself what concerns you and your family and then do some research and find out the party’s policies on that thing and vote for the one who will best address the issue.
I Don’t Support Either of The Major Parties
While it can feel like a waste of time voting for an independent party, especially in the most recent election, you still have the right to exercise your vote. Perhaps if more people who supported independent parties turned out, and their voting numbers grew, then the two main parties would see what they were missing that people care about.
How Do We Fix The Problem
You know what bothers me more than anything after an election?
The amount of Facebook statuses I see that start with “I didn’t vote but…” and end with a moan about whoever won. If you didn’t care enough to vote, you obviously didn’t feel very strongly about the issue.
So how do we fix it? How do we make people care enough to vote?
The truth is, we can’t make people care, but more could be done to make people vote.
Here are two ideas I’ve seen floating around:
We Could Make Voting Mandatory
Does this go against democracy as whole? Perhaps a little, but it would work.
We could however, find a balance. If forcing people to vote goes against democracy, then how about the middle ground. It is mandatory to show up at your local voting station and register your presence. After that, whether or not you vote is up to you.
I think a lot of the problem comes from people not wanting to make the effort to show up. If they do show up, it stands to reason that at least some of them would vote now they’re there.
Perhaps fines could be imposed on those who decide not to turn out.
We Could Stop The Benefits of Anyone Who Doesn’t Vote
I’m not saying this is a good idea, it’s just a solution idea I’ve seen floating around.
I’m sure Labour would benefit hugely if this came in to play, although I’m equally sure the Conservatives would do everything in their power to block it. In general, their voters aren’t on benefits, and in general, the Conservative voters turn out.
My Solution
Although I think either of the above could work, they seem to both be based on a bit of a police state rational where people are punished if they choose not to do something that is essentially voluntary. I also think both of these systems would only force the poorer members of society to act.
Cutting benefits would only make people on benefits turn up to vote, and as a demographic of voter, these are the ones that should be turning out anyway as they stand to lose their benefits if voters go a certain way. While making voting mandatory and imposing fines in theory affects everyone, the richer members of society could pay the fine without it being such an issue for them.
I think the solution lies in making voting so easy and convenient, it’s harder to come up with a reason not to do it than it is to actually do it.
And What is That Solution?
I think it should be possible to vote online. In this technological age, how is that not already an option?
It would be simple enough to do. Give everyone who is eligible to vote a unique combination of letters and numbers 
which would be their password to log in to a secure voting site.
In theory, not everyone has a computer, but the majority of people have either a computer, a laptop, an iPad, a smart phone or a Kindle, all of which can be used to access the internet. And for those who don’t, there would still be the options of the polling station or a postal vote. I’m not saying it’s going to get a 100% turn out, just that it would certainly get a higher turn out than the current numbers.
And I know in theory it could be abused, but so can the current system.
If you don’t take your voting card to your polling station, you only have to give your name. No proof of ID is required, so all you need to know is the name of someone the same gender as you who isn’t voting and you can give their name.
It could be hacked, but then the ballot boxes can be tampered with.
Is it really any harder to ensure an online system is secure than our current one? Nope.
Next time we have an election, please make sure your voice is heard. Make the effort to vote for the future that you want.
And if you choose not to vote, please don’t sit and moan about the result.
What do you think would be a good way of ensuring more people turn out to vote? Let me know in the comments 🙂 I’d love to hear from people who didn’t vote and find out their reasons for not doing so too.
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I think that’s a great suggestion. It’s sad that voter turnouts are so low, especially when the election results are crucially important.
I vote, and I encourage others to do so, too. (I’m a little less insistent if I know their political opinions don’t agree with mine. Ha.)
Haha fair strategy!
I vote. I figure if you don’t vote than you can’t ever complain about anything. Ever. #BloggerClubUK
I totally agree.
Online vote or polling station I still voted, though this was the first time ever I almost didn’t. Weirdly because I’m just fed up with it, all the political lies, the amount of times we have had to vote recently and that I actually don’t find myself supporting any of the parties. But still I voted, because it’s important and our future, even if I just voted for the lesser of two evils. #bloggerclubuk
I know what you mean – there is no party that makes me at “yes, you would be perfect for the country”. I think that’s why I’m a bit of a swing voter!
Totally agree that we all should use our right to vote. People died to win the vote for all. I think better education in schools and more encouragement to engage young people in politics would help. However it has become a bit of a broken system where it’s easy to become disenchanted with the parties. New blood is needed in politics, maybe a new party?
I believe politics should definitely be taught in schools – it’s such a big thing and I think it’s important that people learn about it and if it was taught in schools, at least then people would have the basics.
So true. The voting system seems antiquated to me, you would think in this day and age there would be a better way #bloggerclubuk
There has to be doesn’t there!
I absolutely agree that voting has to be made mandatory, (like Australia) and we should be able to do it online. If I have to go through all the procedures with processing my tax return then the same security could be put in place for voting. I’m not sure I agree with linking in benefits though because your assuming and linking apathy to people on benefits. #BloggersClubUK
YOU’RE
Yes, I they can do the security thing to get tax returns, it proves it can be done. Personally, I don’t think the benefits thing is a good idea, it’s just an idea I’ve seen suggested
I think online voting has to become an option sooner or later, and hopefully that would tackle those voters who can’t be bothered (or, like my husband, have to travel away from home at too short notice to switch to postal voting). As for tackling those who don’t vote out of lack of understanding or apathy…maybe making politics more transparent and simple to understand would work…but that’s the impossible dream!
#BloggerClubUK
It would definitely help if politicians just said what they meant!
Really thought provoking!!! I could not agree more about online voting, if we can bank online, do tax returns online, file Company documents online then we should sure as hell be able to vote online! I’m so surprised it hasn’t already beeen rolled out #BloggerClubUK
Me too!
I agree, make it compulsory and bring it online.
#BloggerClubUK
Voting online does sound like a good idea. I think there should be more adverts on TV and across media as well and education in schools. Even if you feel you can’t put a cross next to one of the main parties, you can still do a protest vote for one of the smaller ones or just put a big cross through the whole sheet, that at least would show that you turned up!
Yeah, even just rendering your paper void would give an idea of how disillusioned people are with the current options.
Totally agree with all points made X #bloggersclubuk
In the past, I definitely found reasons to not vote but now I feel it is so important. The result this time really shows that if more younger voters show up, a change is possible.
It’s funny because now, I wonder how the younger voters don’t care about the future of the country being that its their future, but when I think back, I don’t think I really started to take an active interest in politics until my late 20s.
I agree with voting independent. My brother and I had a conversation about that the other day. We were shocked at how many people didn’t know there were two other people on the ballot during the presidential elections and all they had to do was go online and check them out. Just because the media didn’t help those two doesn’t mean they weren’t there. I voted independent in the presidential election and I don’t understand why we don’t already have online voting. I agree with you completely Debbie! Thanks for hosting #bloggerclubuk
That’s shocking that people didn’t even realise there were other options available! I can’t understand why not either, its like one of the most important processes is still stuck in the past! Thanks for joining us 🙂
We live in France and made sure I got my vote in for the Referendum and the General Election. I do think the system is flawed. In our constituency it wouldn’t have mattered if we had voted or not, it’s a strong Labour majority. But there were some shocks!
#bloggersclubuk
It’s the same here, but the next town over from me, which was always a strong Labour place went Conservative in the last election which was a huge shock! It’s fantastic that you still made sure you were able to vote even though you currently live in France.
I think online is the way of the future and that proportional representation should be introduced or some other system that is more representative. I vote for the local MP not the party or leader #bloggerclubuk
Voting local is a good idea – at least then you know your town has a chance! In my town, Labour get in regardless of anyone’s policies though lol!
It’s a tricky one, I think 70% is actually considered a good voter turn out! I agree that people should all vote. But what concerns me are people voting who don’t know anything about the election. There was something up to public vote here a few years ago & it should have gone through to bring Ireland up to the standard of other EU countries, but it didn’t. I think it was down to people who misunderstood (partly because the opposition was making claims that were far fetched) so the power of the vote is a big one, an important one & I think if people vote that they should look into the situation they are voting about first.
I totally agree – people do often vote with no real idea of what they are/aren’t voting for. I think some of the bigger issues like the one you mentioned here, Brexit etc should never have gone to a public vote.