Alternative Voting

[bluecow1980]

agreed voting should be compulsory... even if its just to spoil your ballot... and thereby give a vote of no confidence

[deesigner]

May 4, 2011 6:49:05 GMT bluecow1980 said:

agreed voting should be compulsory... even if its just to spoil your ballot... and thereby give a vote of no confidence

LOL Blue, I'd be locked up then! I really can't be bothered with wasting the time trekking off to the ballot station

[bluecow1980]

nah you can do it by post/phone/tinternet

[mrlimbo]

May 4, 2011 6:49:05 GMT bluecow1980 said:

agreed voting should be compulsory... even if its just to spoil your ballot... and thereby give a vote of no confidence

Isnt that as bad as not having the vote ?
forced not to vote ?
forced to vote ?
Sounds like the system of a tyrannical country not a free one ?

[mrlimbo]

Can you imagine a dodgy country having a so called election , now nobody turns up at the voting stations as they know the votes will be rigged , so this is a visible vote against the country and system !

Now the same country and election but now, "not voting" is illegal , so everyone turns out , but spoil there papers , now the tyrant is elected and says the whole country voted for him , now prove otherwise ?

[bluecow1980]

ok mr l, I dont dispute your examples in essense. However a country that corrupt WILL make up the votes anyway whether the public vote or not.

Here in the uk (which last time I checked wasnt zimbabwe, albania or iran), we dont tend to have much in the way of vote rigging. When it does happen it seems to be dealt with too. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4406575.stm

My personal view is that those who dont vote at all, appear to be apathetic with a who cares attitude. By actually spoiling your ballot you are still making your voice count. I think if you have the privilage of a political voice you have a duty to use it... even if its to say "up yours".

I will say I mean absoloutly no offense to anyone here who is choosing not to vote, its just my opionion and the reasons why I believe everyone should.

[Perpetua]

None taken I'm sure Blue . . . . politics of any kind can always have that contentious element, is the nature of the beast.

Personally, I wouldn't force anyone to vote - it's their freedom of choice not to, just as much as it is to. Although I think it's sad that so much went into giving the vast majority of people in this country a vote . . . . but again I can also understand why people feel apathetic about the whole business.

But, I'd always vote in anything . . . . if only to then feel perfectly entitled to have a darn good go at political decisions or politicians who do the country a disservice in any way.

[Chrissie]

I feel the same as Del & I always use my vote.

Blue, that cat video is brilliant & after watching it my cats have persuaded (or should that be purrsuaded? ) me & helped me finally make my mind up which way to vote tomorrow

[mrlimbo]

May 4, 2011 9:50:25 GMT bluecow1980 said:

My personal view is that those who dont vote at all, appear to be apathetic with a who cares attitude. .

An amazing way to judge so many people

[bluecow1980]

absoloutly, but thats human nature.

We make instant judgements all the time.

[mrlimbo]

May 5, 2011 7:08:21 GMT bluecow1980 said:

absoloutly, but thats human nature.

We make instant judgements all the time.

Well i wont be dismissive or insulting , but i really dont understand people, who dont understand , that the freedom not to vote ,is just as important as the freedom to vote , it is beyond me that people cant understand that concept ?

Maybe its my lack of intelligence

[bluecow1980]

you see to me mr L; you are excercising your right not to vote, by spoiling your ballot.

[mrlimbo]

May 5, 2011 8:48:36 GMT bluecow1980 said:

you see to me mr L; you are excercising your right not to vote, by spoiling your ballot.

Well your not are you ?
You put a ballot paper in the box , youve voted , whatevers on the paper !

To advocate forcing 100,000 of people against there will , to vote , so they can spoil there ballot paper , defies all logic to me ,let alone the farther reaching consqences of a state that forces such restraints upon its people , small steps always lead to massive bounds !

What will we do to non voters , fine them , then repeat offenders , jail them ?

We should all look at not just the first part of what we advocate , but to what it could lead to in the long term.

[bluecow1980]

No you havent voted.

To vote you put a tick for a candidate. To choose NONE of those is not voting. What it is doing is sending a direct message to the gvt. Your telling them you could be bothered to get off you backside, turn up and tell them to stick their candidates where the sun doesnt shine.

If we lived in a country where not turning up was a rarity, then your way of sending the message would hold power. As it is, you just join the masses of people who cant be arsed to vote.

As for the shock horror forcing 100,000's of people to fill in a piece of paper... let me see. This isnt exactly something as difficult to comprehend as your suggesting! You intimate that to allow the gvt this piece of power would ultimatly remove our freedom. We allready fill in pieces of paper "against our wills". Its compulsory to complete the census, its compulsory to complete umpteen forms to live (tax, bank, birth/marriage/death, council tax, unemployment etc etc etc) in the uk. I am only talking about one more - and one you can choose to leave blank if you wished.

As for the punishment... I dont know yet, I would assume it should be the same for not completing the census.

[mrlimbo]

May 5, 2011 13:10:06 GMT bluecow1980 said:

If we lived in a country where not turning up was a rarity, then your way of sending the message would hold power. As it is, you just join the masses of people who cant be arsed to vote.

I never stated it was my way , ive stated here that ive worked hard and for free in the 97 election (i even have signed letter from Blair thanking me) , im stating it should be a freedom of choice , for anyone to choose when they want to vote or not !

As to you thinking voting and form filling are the same thing , i wont even comment on !

Have you considered what could happen if you forced the 30% (2005) of the country that didnt vote , to vote ?
You could very well find that you end up with lets just say the more radical partys in with alot more power ?

Theres alot of people out there that wouldnt normally vote for these partys , but if they are forced to ?