People are offended, let down, and angry at my choice not to engage in the election, and I can see why, but I don't regret my choice...at least, not right now.
I want to explain why I didn't vote, but I also think that voting is extremely important. That looks like a huge contradiction, I'm aware, but hear me out.
I didn't vote because I thought that I didn't have enough knowledge about the parties, the party leaders, what they've done in the past etc to make an informed and well-thought-out decision. That was a big deal for me - if I don't feel that I have enough knowledge about anything, whether it be voting for a political party, for someone to win a competition, for me to state something without proper facts....I usually step back.
I think that voting is important for the many reasons that people have given me to vote: when given a voice, we should use it; we have the right to a say on what happens to our country; regardless of anything, someone is going to win, so you may as well vote for someone who you think would do the most good/the least amount of damage.
Now, let me list a few of the arguments against my non-vote, followed by my own retorts (these are not verbatim).
Side-note: please remember that I am in the process of deciding whether I made the right decision or not, so some of what I write will not be totally committed one way or the other. I will try to be consistent, though.
Let's go:
Women fought for your right to vote and as a woman yourself, it's an insult to the women who died
This is the argument that annoys me the most. I am a feminist, and as such, I more than appreciate what the suffragettes did for my gender. I believe that everyone should be given the right to vote. What I DON'T believe is that everyone should vote (especially if they really don't want to). Does that make sense?
Someone fighting for my right to do something is amazing and I commend them for it, but that doesn't mean that I SHOULD do it. I have the right to do a lot of things that I don't want to do right now, like get married to another woman.
It doesn't take long to learn about it - there are so many resources out there, so not knowing enough is a poor excuse
This one makes way more sense to me and a week ago, I would have agreed wholeheartedly.
See, I was reading through the manifesto summaries, I was going to complete the quiz on voteforpolicies.org.uk to see which policies matched up with my opinions, I knew for a fact that I could Google a bit and get more info. So why didn't I?
An opinion from someone else made me think, 'Hold on...how can I possibly learn about all of this properly by doing a bit of research? I have no real idea about these parties, whether to go with a strategy, [anything from the third paragraph], so I'll leave it 'til the next election and start the learning process ASAP.' I thought that I wasn't going to be informed enough. Maybe I was wrong, I'm still deciding where I stand on that.
Additionally, say that my lack of knowledge led me to vote for a party who, with more knowledge, I would have been 100% against? Yes, people are allowed to make mistakes, so go ahead and vote when you're unsure if you think it's the right thing to do, but people are also allowed to do otherwise.
Spoiling your ballot would have been much better than not voting at all
I agree that you make a huge statement when you decide to spoil your ballot, and I actually admire those who are against the system and decide to spoil their ballot. However, I do not think that my reason for not voting would warrant a spoiling. Going to the poll station and writing 'I have no idea' or similar I see as no better than sitting at home and thinking 'I have no idea'.
However, granted, it would mean that I would have counted as the percentage of people who voted, which would mean that I made a contribution to the amount of voters. So on that point, I totally see the value in that.
Non-voters seem lazy and apathetic
....But I know that I'm not lazy or apathetic, so why should what people assume make a difference in the way that I act? I was lazy for not learning enough, yes, but not for deciding not to vote.
It's your duty as a UK citizen to vote
See now, there's a difference between a duty and something that is very important.
I think that everyone should definitely consider voting but only if they think it's something that should do. Maybe you're an anarchist who doesn't believe in the system we have or have been wronged by the government in general...if you think you're making the right choice, fine. People are free to disagree with anyone, but no-one should be able to tell anyone what to do, unless it's directly causing harm to other beings, that's my philosophy. Could me not voting come under that category? Debatable.
I don't think that I hurt anyone by not voting aside from those who took offence, but, it's true that my vote could have saved people from a horrible political party. But (I'm about to be 'that' person), my vote as an individual would probably have counted for nothing and the bottom line is that I thought that I was making the right decision. You can decide if I was wrong, but you cannot say that I need to vote because it was my decision not to.
How are you going to contribute to change if you don't vote?
I'm not, not this sense anyway, and that's a shame (which is why I feel bad for not following politics as well as I think I should have). But I would rather not vote due to indecision than vote for someone I know next to nothing (in my opinion) about.
Well then you can't moan about whichever party gets in
I am still on the fence about this. I don't think I have a right to complain about the voters, but I'm still allowed to complain about the Conservatives. Why? Because look at it this way - is someone who voted the Tories in allowed to complain about a policy they disagree with? I think so, especially if they didn't know about certain policies beforehand. This leads back to my lack of knowledge - I didn't have sufficient knowledge for ANY party,
I'm disappointed in you
Me too, because of my reason for not voting, not because I didn't vote.
--
I probably would have voted if there was an 'unsure' option on my postal vote, but there wasn't. Is that an excuse? No, but it's still what I think.
This goes out to everyone: if you don't think that voting is right for you and that you would be going against your beliefs by voting, you have everything right to abstain.
Use your voting privilege the way that YOU want to use it.
