[Closed] Daft question maybe, but was my vote wasted?

[quote=esselgruntfuttock said]I voted LD

Yes

The only wasted vote is one not used

+1 for piemonster

I too voted LD in Harrogate - didn't want the Tories in but 0% chance of labour (who I'd have voted for if they had half a chance) so I voted for the only outsider that stood half a chance.

I find this quite frustrating. I've been a floating voter, having voted for all three main parties through my voting career, but in my constituency , tories get in every time.

Piemonster +1.

If we all thought there was no point just because the odds were against it noone would ever innovate or try to make things better.

With the persistence of time and effort things may ultimately change and we may see more diversity, a coalition model of government (the type that works) or a true alternative to the two main parties.

As I've said before, put a blue tie on a monkey in Harrogate & it would get elected. I knew Labour didn't stand a cat in hells chance but I thought LD's would've done better.
Only a slight consolation is that andrew jones said he wouldn't vote yes to lift the fox hunting ban. 🙄

This is from my constiuency, if the labour had voted LD, the tories would have lost. Oh well....

Conservative
Alex Chalk Votes26,615

Liberal Democrat
Martin Horwood Votes24,046

Labour
Keith White Votes5,408

Only an 18,000 majority? No, your vote wasn't wasted.

Tory candidate here got 34,000 votes and a majority of 21,000. I even got the tactical voting wrong as I voted Lib Dem assuming they'd bounce back and come 2nd, but Labour did. Though with a 61.5% Tory share of the vote tactical voting was a waste of time anyway.

No, the only wasted vote was mine and the several hundred other Green Party votes placed anywhere other than in Brighton.

No, not a wasted vote. You didn't back the tories and you backed their closest opposition. If you'd voted LD in my area, then I'd have said wasted vote. It was tight TBF
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I have a friend who postal voted from California

She's very happy she made the effort

Labour won Kensington by 20 votes!

within spitting distance down here, top two go through to a 2nd round 😉
Would stop using his families farm/restaurant but it does bloody good grub!

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Filton & Bradley Stoke
Conservative Jack Lopresti 25,331 50.0 +3.3
Labour Naomi Rylatt 21,149 41.7 +15.1
Liberal Democrat Eva Fielding 3,052 6.0 -1.3
Green Diana Warner 1,162 2.3 -2.3

Almost got rid of Jack Lopresti....mayby next time. Another election within six months 😉

It was wasting votes that turned the SNP from 3rd to 1st- years and years of wasting ever so slightly more votes til "suddenly" in 2015 all that slow movement brought it close enough for more people to vote for them thinking "maybe it's not a waste". For a good chunk of my life the tories were always going to get in and labour was a wasted vote, then labour were challenged by the tories and we voted tactical and the SNP was a wasted vote, now we're snp and the tories were second and labour was a wasted vote.

When it's close between 2 parties you can support, that's when it's a waste. Otherwise, maybe it's a waste but maybe it's an investment.

tories get in every time

John Cleese said the same thing on Twitter about his constituency.
Things can change as long as people vote.

Unfortunately in some areas votes are wasted, and yours is one, but i would still vote

Most votes are "wasted" under the FPTP system, it is so frustrating.

I have a friend who postal voted from California

She's very happy she made the effort

Labour won Kensington by 20 votes!

I'm happy for her!

It may be wasted in the fptp system, but funding of the parties is done by their percentage of the vote, so voting for who you want, ensures they get some money for next time is also a consideration, my area is Blue through and through, Jerrymandered for the 2015 elections.

So I voted green, at least he is local, most of the other candidates don't even live in the constituency, and although I don't agree with all of their policies, They need to be there to keep the other parties on the right lines for the environment.

within spitting distance down here, top two go through to a 2nd round

Encouraging. Always confuses me how Cornwall remains staunchly in the serfdom. Also some (if not the) fattest turkeys that ever voted for Brexmas.

davidtaylforth - so glad I switched from Greens/Libs and voted for Labour seeing that break down! First time I have ever voted Labour but I knew it was going to be tight so tactical was the way to go.

I wonder if it is time to give up my GP membership... not a big fan of Mr O'Hara.

[quote=nealglover ]

tories get in every time

This one: https://twitter.com/JohnCleese/status/866188904814260226

I'm not quite sure if this was the point you were making, but just in case not and for those who don't realise, it appears despite Cleese's lack of knowledge of constituency changes he actually lives in the Kensington constituency, and if it needs pointing out, that fell to Labour by 20 votes (on the back of a huge swing).

An excellent lesson for anybody tempted to say something similar.

You exercised your democratic right to vote so no, it wasn't wasted.

Only hindsight when the results are known is making you think that way.

In my case, Tory Boy was pretty much sure to win in a Surrey seat, but there was always a chance LD could have got close. The Tory vote was actually down as many shifted their votes, but it split fairly even between LD and Labour so Tory Boy got a bigger majority than previously. Had those voted mainly for one or the other than there'd be more chance of an upset. In Surrey, more like LD would.

Depends. If that was who you supported then it wasn't wasted but you were outvoted!
If it was some silly tactical thing then tough. That sort of thing is terrible. Being nasty and trying to stop some one else winning just because you can't is pathetic at infant school level. For supposedly responsible adults it's awful.
If LD was who you wanted, well done for your honesty, even when it was likely you would lose.

[quote=mattsccm ]Depends. If that was who you supported then it wasn't wasted but you were outvoted!
If it was some silly tactical thing then tough. That sort of thing is terrible. Being nasty and trying to stop some one else winning just because you can't is pathetic at infant school level. For supposedly responsible adults it's awful.

Adults for whom the winning candidate would be bottom of their list if there was an AV system attempting to implement an AV system. Yes, how awful of them.

davidtaylforth - so glad I switched from Greens/Libs and voted for Labour seeing that break down! First time I have ever voted Labour but I knew it was going to be tight so tactical was the way to go.

Yeh, it's been pretty close recently; I think it's cos John acts like a bit of a prick. Same story in Kendal aswell, I'm sure it used to be a Farron whitewash, seems alot closer these days. Bloody Tories!

No, not a wasted vote. You didn't back the tories and you backed their closest opposition. If you'd voted LD in my area, then I'd have said wasted vote

Disagree, voting Lib Dem pushed UKIP into 4th, in your and my constituency. More than anything the collapse of UKIP has cheered me this election. Well OK, Theresa May crying aside 🙂

I still can't believe Labour missed regaining Itchen by 31 votes. 😥 (seat boundary changes last year may have weakened Labour vote in Itchen)

One of the Scottish consituencies was held by SNP (IIRC) by 2 votes! 😯

I'd love to see how many seats were won by small margins.

mattsccm - Member

If it was some silly tactical thing then tough. That sort of thing is terrible. Being nasty and trying to stop some one else winning just because you can't is pathetic at infant school level. For supposedly responsible adults it's awful.

Not sure if joking tbh. This'd only make sense if you have one party you want to win and you want all the others to lose equally badly. If your first preference can't win, it makes sense to vote for your second preference. Anything else frankly is stupid.

When it's close between 2 parties you can support, that's when it's a waste. Otherwise, maybe it's a waste but maybe it's an investment.

I voted Lib Dem as they've been in up here before for many years and Labour never been close. Turns out I'd been better voting Labour as they claim close well about 12k votes off but closer than Lib Dem.

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[quote=Drac ]I voted Lib Dem as they've been in up here before for many years and Labour never been close. Turns out I'd been better voting Labour as they claim close well about 12k votes off but closer than Lib Dem.

Close to what happened here - I don't think the seat has ever been held by anybody other than the Tories, but they got very close in 2005 when a popular local councillor stood (somebody I know personally, though didn't at the time). Labour never even got half the votes of the Lib Dems until last time. I'm still not quite sure who all the people who used to vote Lib Dem are voting for now.
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As I've said before, put a blue tie on a monkey in Harrogate & it would get elected

Strange, I met Phil Willis several times in his role as Lib Dem MP for Harrogate from '97 to 2010, and a very good constituency MP he appeared to be, never heard anyone speak badly of him.

Never saw him in a blue tie either.

Do you think perhaps you let your standard issue leftie chip on the shoulder get in the way of the facts a little bit?

If it was some silly tactical thing then tough. That sort of thing is terrible. Being nasty and trying to stop some one else winning just because you can't is pathetic at infant school level. For supposedly responsible adults it's awful.

For example you vote tory but they cannot win
Labour might win or the Lib Dems might win so you vote Lib dem as you would prefer them to Labour
Not really sure why you got so ranty about folk doing this.

I would prefer a labour govt and I would least like a Tory govt so I vote accordingly.

Somewhat a philosophical question IMO.

It's the nature of a representative democracy that frequently you do not get the result that you voted for. That doesn't mean your vote was 'wasted' somehow: if you hadn't voted then you would have had even less reasonable expectation of the result you wanted.

The concept of 'wasted votes' pertains to our first past the post system and the notion of 'safe seats'. If you accept that the sitting representative is impossible to remove due to local voting habits, then any opposing vote is sometimes termed 'wasted'. This isn't always true though. Safe seats are sometimes lost, often because enough people ignored the idea of wasted votes and tried to use their votes to change things. This kinda covers the other usual idea for a 'wasted' vote - voting for something that has no chance. Maybe Lord Buckethead, for instance. Again, one day maybe enough people decide to use Lord Buckethead as a protest vote, and he becomes an MP.

In a democracy such as ours, the only truly wasted vote is the one which is registered but isn't cast.

Do you think perhaps you let your standard issue leftie chip on the shoulder get in the way of the facts a little bit?

Dopey response actually from you Ninfan. For a start what makes you think I'm a leftie, just cos I didn't vote tory?
The current MP has been in the position since 2010. Harrogate's a bit like Durham, monkeys in red ties get in there.

[quote=vincienup ]Somewhat a philosophical question IMO.

Well if we're starting down that route, then there's a good argument that every single vote in this election was wasted 😉

Well it certainly made a difference in Crewe & Nantwich as Labour claimed it from the Tory incumbent by 48 votes.

Those 48 could easily have been wasted by spoiling or not bothering to turn up.

At which point was voting Green in Brighton [i]not[/i] a wasted vote?[img] :large[/img]

Sometimes, change takes longer than we'd like but without the 1997, 2001 and 2005 results they'd have never been in a position to eventually win.

[quote=scotroutes ]At which point was voting Green in Brighton not a wasted vote?

Only in 2010 😉 You make a good point, and part of the reason I still think Lib Dem was the correct vote here is that even though they were beaten into 3rd by Labour, they still stand more chance of winning the seat in future than Labour do - I struggle to see how Labour will ever be electable here.