..and I've just (postal) Voted! That was my first time by post. Just a *little* more complicated than the face-to-face vote, but not too bad. I can see why a friend of mine always did that. So.... July 4th. My plan is to 'pull an all nighter' and watch the Tory dominoes FALL. It'll be FUN. The Conservatives *probably* won't get as crushed as some pundits are saying - as all too often when a massive landslide for one side is predicted *less* people vote because they think its already a done deal - but I still think its going to be a bloodbath for them. I'm hoping that some SENIOR Tories loose their seats (the more humiliation the better) and will have beer at the ready when they do so. I'm certainly not going to be 'live-streaming' my thoughts, but I will pop on from time to time over night with the odd comment. Yes, I know I'm a politics Geek, but I'm SO, SO looking forward to next Thursday!!
8 comments:
Best wishes for a good turnout, in both number of voters and conservatives losing their seats.
The overall turnout is expected to be 'low'. How low that actually is... Unsure. I think there will be Tories that can't vote for their own party, but can't bring themselves to vote for anyone else. Then there's the people who think its already done & done, so won't bother - then there's the usual disinterested & apathetic 10%(ish). I wonder if it'll even hit 50% in some places - or indeed overall. Labour are still expected to have a landslide though. There are few people out there who still remain proud Conservatives.... Labour will be in for at least 5 years with some commentators already predicted 10 or longer. But we'll see - plus we'll see if Labour can fuck things up, just in different ways! That's Democracy for you... [lol]
"... as all too often when a massive landslide for one side is predicted *less* people vote because they think its already a done deal ..." see Brexit. :(
I have voted by post for most of my life. When you live abroad, you can only vote by post. So, now that we are back in Germany, we quite enjoy walking down to our local polling station (a primary school), meet people, see the exhibitions by the kids etc.
We were happy that they changed the system in the European elections some years ago. For a long time, those not living in their own country couldn't vote. What a farce!
In any case, I wish you good luck. Look what happened in Germany after the last elections. The right wing made such a fuss and still does, everything they didn't fix in sixteen years is now the fault of "the Greens", even though they are not the only governing party.
Not sure of the exact figure, but a significant percentage of people - 20%+ I think - didn't vote in the Brexit referendum. Of course the people it would impact more *couldn't* vote. I don't think it would've been a huge task to allow the voting - in that instance - to be 16+ rather than the usual 18+ and would've had the knock-on effect of giving youngsters a taste of Democracy. The only 'problem' is that Remain would've WON!
I'm voting by post this time because they brought in new rules about Voter ID. The only one of the approved items I have is an (expired) Passport. I'm certainly not getting a government approved ID card (and paying for it). Postal votes don't require ID, so... postal it is.
As far as I know, Brits living abroad (mostly Spain) could always(?) vote by post in General Elections. I'm surprised that, until recently, Europeans couldn't. It seems like an obvious solution...
If Labour get as big a majority as expected (talk of 100+ seats is common) they'll be able to do just about anything, including some quite radical stuff. I wonder if they have the balls to do so. We'll see. The honeymoon period should last about 3 months so they can find their feet and start doing stuff. I'm guessing that the first year will be fixing things (and blaming) from the 14 Tory fiasco. After THAT they really need to start carving their own path. It's going to be interesting is nothing else!!
Ah, you're a typical Brit then, no ID card. LOL
As you know, we had 16+ people vote in the European ones and a lot of them voted extreme right wing because they were unhappy with the present government. Well, they didn't have to live through 16 years of right wing government and didn't want to know that a lot of the problems we have today still come from that time.
We could always vote in our General Elections, just not in the European ones. And that was the same for the Brits. I had a British colleague living in Germany at the time and he couldn't vote in the European elections. The same then for us when we lived in the UK and the Netherlands. We could vote in Germany for the General Elections but not in the European ones. Ironic, don't you think so? I mean, who is more European, someone living in their own country or someone living in another European country?
Over here, you have to bring your election invitation or your ID card. But since everyone has one, that shouldn't be a problem.
They (meaning the Conservatives) have tried to bring in ID cards for a while now - especially with the excuse of 9/11. Every time they've been shown to be a sham and a proxy for something else. Every time they were questioned about it they couldn't show a single reason 'why' we *needed* them. I think there's a stubborn streak in us that says that an Englishman (or woman) doesn't need to prove who they are - especially to the government or government agencies. Part of that is a rational 'thin end of the wedge' argument, but I think most of it is emotional. I think that the general feeling here is that its a 'solution' looking for a problem.
Here is used to be that you showed up with your election invitation or you simply stated your name & address and they found you on the list and crossed you off. Job done. Then there was some nonsense about 'voter fraud' so they finally brought in ID. According to the UK Electoral Commission there have been 1,462 alleged cases and 11 convictions for such in the last *TWENTY FOUR* years! So, not a huge problem then!! The vast majority of the allegations are probably simple human error. Considering the MILLIONS of votes cast over that period neither figure is exactly significant - yet.... Voter ID requirements were brought in, to 'fix' a problem that doesn't actually exist but sounds good on a TV interview.
I have heard many arguments against ID cards while living in Britain. But I lived near to a border most of my life (except when living in the UK) and it is just very practical to have one.
The funny thing is, I was always told people are against registration, the state is watching over you and you are more free in the UK. When we were going to move, we got a form to register for the next elections and they asked who lived in our house. I called them and told them that we would move away withing the next month and wouldn't be there anymore when the elections took place. They said, I still had to fill in the form, otherwise I could be fined a thousand pounds. So, there you have your registration.
ID cards are definitely an emotive, or just emotional(!) issue here. I don't think that so-called 'rational' arguments either way cut much ice with either side. We may have them eventually but I don't think that they're happening any time soon.
You're definitely right about the voter registration thing. They *really* don't take no for an answer. I was surprised to see an article recently about people who hadn't registered to vote. Reading beyond the headlines it was mainly students & the homeless. They're some of the groups difficult to track down! I didn't vote when I was @ Uni, but I think that was between elections - so I'm not 100% sure.
People here generally used their drivers licence as ID, either that or a passport. I have neither so I'm in a bit of a bind in that regard.
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