Politics – one of the biggest games of them all.
If you have the right, use your opportunity to vote!
Can well imagine there are plenty who on reading this feel “Hey this is a site about games and activities not one about voting and politics!”. Actually, politics is possibly one of the biggest and oldest games of them all and if you are lucky enough to live in a democratic country and/or have the opportunity to vote, you get to be a part of it. After all, they are relying on ‘your’ vote to help decide. And this message is too important to be sidelined.
BUT! … there are plenty of politicians and political parties who rely on you NOT voting, because if you do not vote they stand a better chance of winning.
Simply put – it is assumed that those who do vote represent the wish of ‘everybody’ including those who did not bother and those who could not, but:
a) It is well known that the older generation is more likely to vote than the younger and the older generation is more likely to vote for right-wing policies.
b) It is well known that those who tend not to vote are those from areas of life who are less politically engaged, feel their vote does not matter, are financially constrained and/or find it difficult to vote for various reasons, such as accessibility, getting identification etc (hint: the introduction of voter ID was deliberate to target this group, or at least an incidental benefit). It’s also known that this same group is also more likely to have individuals who tend to care more about others and appreciate services such as health care, education, etc. eg more likely to vote for left-leaning or liberal policies.
c) Polls can get it wrong!! Do not think it’s a done deal just because the polls say so, that you do not need to vote. Polls tend to reflect the opinion of those who are politically engaged.
–> Your vote counts!! <–
d) The UK has another problem with voting – first past the post (FPTP). Basically the party or person with the most votes no matter how many that is even if is one single vote – wins. Why does this matter? If you only have two choices then this works, but the reality of the situation is there are usually 5 or more parties to choices. So how does that look? Let’s say votes are relatively evenly spread across all 5. eg
Party 1: 19%
Party 2: 21%
Party 3: 20%
Party 4: 20%
Party 5: 20%
In this case, Party 2 wins with 21% of the vote, but they only represent the desire of 21% of those who voted and that win could easily be by just a few votes.
If you don’t have a particular preference for a party but DO NOT want a specific party to win because of FPTP then you should consider tactical voting. This effectively supports an opposition party in the area that has the best chances of winning. Be aware, the area an MP covers is often different to the local councils, and there have been some boundary changes. Want to know who best to vote for in these cases, try the Get Voting site.
So whether you personally have a preference for left, right or centrist policies and parties get the message out there among your family and friends… Vote tactically or for who you want, but DO vote.
References
https://post.parliament.uk/election-turnout-why-do-some-people-not-vote
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2012/11/01/nonvoters-who-they-are-what-they-think
https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/first-past-the-post
