General Election 2017
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boulderdomb
Active Member
I'll be doing everything but voting Conservative!
santa sangria
RefChat Addict
I can't vote anymore.
I have been out of the UK officially for just over 15 years.
A few years ago the Tories stated they would not impose this 15 year absence restriction. But they lied. There are thousands of us living abroad who now have no right to vote.
You can say that's our fault for living abroad. But, we were told we would keep our voting rights, citizenship rights etc. That's part of why we moved abroad and didn't take new citizenship. And two years ago we were told that after living abroad for 15 years we would still have voting rights. But the Tories lied and have now removed that right because it is in their self-interest.
I think tactical voting is an excellent idea in this election.
I am sad for the people of Northern Ireland and Scotland in particular, but sad for the whole country, when there is such a poor and non-representative electoral system.
I have been out of the UK officially for just over 15 years.
A few years ago the Tories stated they would not impose this 15 year absence restriction. But they lied. There are thousands of us living abroad who now have no right to vote.
You can say that's our fault for living abroad. But, we were told we would keep our voting rights, citizenship rights etc. That's part of why we moved abroad and didn't take new citizenship. And two years ago we were told that after living abroad for 15 years we would still have voting rights. But the Tories lied and have now removed that right because it is in their self-interest.
I think tactical voting is an excellent idea in this election.
I am sad for the people of Northern Ireland and Scotland in particular, but sad for the whole country, when there is such a poor and non-representative electoral system.
Our FPP electrol system isn't perfect but you get a winning majority candidate. Far better than PR or that crazy US Electrol College system.
Will be voting Lib Dem....conservatives have a massive majority in my neck of the woods and although I'm not "against" the current government I have too many disagreements with the party to vote for them and Labour is a joke.
Proud to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative but I don't really have a party to vote for. Progressive alliance would be great but labor is too much of a mess and lib dems are too scared of coalition smell.
Proud to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative but I don't really have a party to vote for. Progressive alliance would be great but labor is too much of a mess and lib dems are too scared of coalition smell.
They could shove a red flag up a Donkeys backside where i live and it will get voted in... Not sure why because their record in the City is lamentable.....
Electoral College usually coincides with a popular majority - rare it doesn't. FPTP allows massive majorities with 35+% of the popular vote - e.g. Blair in 1997 with about 43%. PR systems like STV as used in the Republic of Ireland usually create a stable government that also usually prevents the tyranny of the minority often seen in the U.K. - for example Thatcher's tearing up of the British social fabric with nothing approaching a popular mandate.
They could shove a red flag up a Donkeys backside where i live and it will get voted in... Not sure why because their record in the City is lamentable.....
Trump and Bush Jnr both lost the popular vote but somehow won the US Presidency! How's that right!
PR is also slightly unfair in MPs are allocated on you that didn't win locally. Not sure that's fair either. I'm not sure NÍ is a beacon for a stable parliament either, How many elections have you had of late?
Bit rich the last bit too, between 1964 and 1979 227 pits closed (labour years) and between 1979 and 1990 (Thatcher years) only 154 shut! Many reasons for many industries imploding not all can be pinned on the encumbent governments
Trump and Bush Jnr both lost the popular vote but somehow won the US Presidency! How's that right!
PR is also slightly unfair in MPs are allocated on you that didn't win locally. Not sure that's fair either. I'm not sure NÍ is a beacon for a stable parliament either, How many elections have you had of late?
Bit rich the last bit too, between 1964 and 1979 227 pits closed (labour years) and between 1979 and 1990 (Thatcher years) only 154 shut! Many reasons for many industries imploding not all can be pinned on the encumbent governments
Thatcher and Blair won about 43% yet had elective dictatorships for much of their time. The presidential system in the US at least limits what the President can do whereas Blair literally did what he wanted, suffering no defeats until 2005 with a smaller majority and lustre waning.
I would never use here as an example of stability; however I was referring to the Republic which does ok under PR. These days most people vote for a party rather than an individual MP - indeed May is asking people to vote for her personally by proxy. How much contact do people have with a constituency MP. In fact having a range of reps to choose from is actually at times more effective, especially if they team up on an issue on a more regional basis, giving them more influence than a single MP.
As for The milk snatcher, industry is only one example - 'there is no such thing as society,' the neo-liberal economics that brought communities to their knres, the sell off of social housing consigning future generations to rack rents, an artificial housing market and homelessness..........ad nauseum
Having the ability to vote is not something that should be disregarded lightly. I would stand for a policy that:
- Made voting a legal requirement for those that met the legibility criteria, that carried a financial penalty for those people that did not vote
- Change the way postal voting works, to reduce the ability for postal voting fraud (numerous ideas, too much detail for here).
- Ban the use of party names on ballot papers - only the name of the candidate being permitted (to drive better local engagement - people would at least have to know the name of the person standing for the party of their choice, which means those people standing for election will have to make their voice heard locally in the run up to the election), and
- Have a formal abstention box on the ballot paper, so that you could abstain without spoiling your paper. The abstentions could not "win", but it would be useful for analysis post-election. And if we make it a legal requirement to vote, give people the choice of "none of the above".
Yampy
RefChat Addict
#1 & #4 do seem to go hand in hand and introducing compulsory voting must have an option for "none of the above" for it to work. That said, I doubt if mandatory voting will translate into a more politically engaged electorate. How do you start the process of registering the eligible members of society who choose to ignore their civil duties and/or have fears over the use of data and of Government Big Brother activities? And when you have them registered, how do you punish the voters who don't vote in a mandatory system?
I find your proposal in #3 interesting and it may well work but surely the winners will those with the biggest budgets and deepest pockets? I know there are regulations on election expenses but even with tighter legislation, the money will have the loudest voice and that'll still be the bigger parties plus the "rant and rave" merchants. I'm broadly in favour of removing the party names from the ballot paper, though.
Mooseybaby
Retired big bad baldy in all black!
I wouldn't trust Corbyn or Farron with the responsibility of making a cup of tea, let alone run a country!
They wouldn't though. If they won, they would rely on their (what is currently shadow) cabinets. The likes of Diane Abbot - oh, wait.
Very clever!!!