Voting - Comments

Australia has a compulsory voting system, so I guess technically we don't really have a choice whether we vote or not (you get massively fined and harassed by the police and Electoral Commission if you don't send in a vote or show up to a polling booth on the day). It does mean, though, that people who are undecided or hate everybody (as most people here are, because all of our politicians are revolting) tend to 'donkey vote', which is where you purposely spoil your ballot by marking it incorrectly or drawing all over it, and your vote is not counted.

Whilst I do understand that some people don't want to vote because they're not interested in politics or don't know anything about it, I personally believe that it's a bit of a lazy approach to take. Of course, my whole family are politically minded, so I have grown up with all that, but I still make an effort to read through every party's policies and preferences before an election in order to make my decision. I think that disengaging in politics just because you're disinterested is a really irresponsible thing to do, because every vote does count, and governments make decisions which affect everybody. By not voting you are not only passively allowing anyone to control your life, you're also not thinking about other people within your community and how they will be affected by whoever gets in to power.

I definitely agree with you about suffrage, although it's not my prime motivation to vote. I just don't see how you can be an active member of society without knowing even a little bit about politics, and without voting. That's my opinion on it all, anyway :) I'm glad you're taking an interet in politics! It's important to form your own views on these things.

@ buena fortuna;
I suppose in that way, I agree. You don't want to give a half hearted opinion on something and our governments don't make politics easy to understand. They either sugarcoat things or they make things so complicated, why can't they just explain things clearly! They'd be able to reach out to so many more people, I think it's such a shame. I think if governments don't get their act together and start proving that votes make a real difference, the idea of voting may die out. In Brand's interview he mentioned the "evils of profit" meaning people are so fed up with our system, that they are looking for alternatives, such as communism. That's when we get to the point when UKIP and the BNP get voted in

I know absolutely nothing about politics and that's why I'm reluctant to vote. As much as women died to protect our rights, I don't think there is much point in me voting if I don't know what I'm doing. I don't pay attention to politics because they are twisted as fuck sometimes. I just think it'd be silly and careless to throw away a vote by just voting for whoever my parents vote for (which would be what would happen if I were to vote).

Then again, there hasn't been an election or anything like that since I turned 18 so I don't know what I'll do. The next big thing I'd be voting for is the Scottish Referendum for Independence and I don't know what my views on that are. I'd like to vote because it's something important to myself and the future of my country, but I have ridiculously mixed views on it.

Long story short, I don't think I'll use my vote for much. I'd like to leave the voting to the people who actually know what they are doing / what they want, rather than blindly ticking the box next to a party name that I know nothing about.