Who bothers to vote?
I really do feel that at local level there should be no party politics. District councils should be about what the immediate locality wants no what the party says must happen. As a result none of the candidates really appeal. They will all follow head office not local needs. Maybe an independent might do the trick but that’s not an option.
Of course I could stand myself but its too late for that 🙄
Some might say that if you don’t vote you can’t complain but equally some say that by not voting you can moan at everyone.
Not telling you what I will do, just wondering what others do when they don’t like the choices.

I vote, locally seems more important, dunno if it actually is, but at least they should in theory try to improve the locality.

Yeah, in many ways I see a local vote as more important, especially as at national level I want a mix of everything.
Its just that party politics gets in the way.

Always vote in any kind of election.

Actually kinda loooking forward to the result of our local council election tomorrow when our current crop of North Lanarkshire councillors who are openly corrupt and been there for as long as people can remember because it’s just been taken for granted that everyone will automatically vote Labour, get their jotters.

Fully expect that they will get their asses handed to them by the SNP.

I’m not particularly bothered about the politics of it all, but it’s high time that there was some real accountability in the process.

One of the three options for us seems to be campaigning purely on the strength of the fact that he’s worked out how to use the fixmystreet website.

None of the campaign liturature stuffed through the door does anything to tell me what they will do, it’s just a platform to slag off the others.

I’m finding it hard to justify supporting any of them.

I’m finding it hard to justify supporting any of them

I’m finding it hard to find out who any of them actually are.

Quite often local votes for local and parish elections (although in the latter there’s quite often no vote due to no contest).
Quite often been different local vote and national vote when locals and GE were on same day. Similar for London Mayoral elections etc.
Parish councils are even more local. Didn’t even realise with which traditional party my local Parish Councillor was aligned until recently. And that was only cos he did some campaigning years ago and used to be a union rep or something. Took some digging.
Same with my old next door neighbour. Local councillor for years, only found out which party she represented on the day I went in to the poll booth on my 18th birthday.

The day I walked in on an EU election was entertaining though. I think they were genuinely surprised to see someone turn up to vote.

We have the crazy Cambridgeshire mayor thing here. I’m voting just in the hope the Conservatives don’t get their man in (they probably will though).

Who in the Conservative party woke up one day and thought: “I know, what we _really_ need is more politicians” ?

I do usually vote, but we don’t have local elections here this year (even though one party has still put campaign leaflets through the door for them, definitely talking about locals rather than GE…)

Usually it doesn’t feel that party political. This year one of our candidates is running for the council on a “no to scottish independence” platform and hasn’t got anything to say about the council work. It’s bizarre. But everyone else seems to be doing things on a local basis. Broadly in line with party thinking, of course, but acting local. That seems pretty much how it should be tbh, you know roughly what they’re aligned with and you know the specifics for your area.

*

I’m buggered, here in my part of Norfolk, i have a Conservative MP who voted for the Brexit referendum and jokes about disability benefits (George Freeman)

Or i’ve got UKIP.

No-one else, no labour or others at all. So I can’t vote locally as i point blank refuse to vote for either, which is wrong and elsewhere i would.

I vote as we are the only council run by a Residents Association and I want to keep it that way.

I would scrap councillors. In my town we have mostly Labour councillors, the county is mixed between Labour and Tory, our Welsh Assembly Member is Labour and out MP is Tory oh yeah the MEP is Labour (I think!) Buck gets passed a lot.

Will be voting Plaid as the Plaid councillors I’ve met have been x10 better than any others.

I’m with perchypanther here, in that I always vote in any kind of election – even if it is simply to destroy my ballot (which is, i believe, a form of voting).

I kind of think it is a civic duty to vote as responsibly as we can, even if we think the system is problematic. We can’t fix any system by remaining on the outside.

Actually kinda loooking forward to the result of our local council election tomorrow when our current crop of North Lanarkshire councillors who are openly corrupt and been there for as long as people can remember because it’s just been taken for granted that everyone will automatically vote Labour, get their jotters.

I used to work with a guy, I say work, he was the laziest bastard I’ve had the displeasure of working with, who was a labour councillor in Johnstone. He didn’t actually seem to do anything, but picked up a healthy 20k on top of his already overpaid earnings.

It’s great that these kind of balloons will get punted as you say, but what a sorry state scottish Labour have become. So many people I know will never vote for them again, me included.

It’s a shame that no Government has had the balls to put RON on the ballot papers… they’d all get to see how unpopular they really are.

Ron = Re-Open Nominations

VOTE FOR RON!

Scud, in that case you MUST spoil your ballot, it does get recorded wereas not voting is simply classed as voter apathy

even if it is simply to destroy my ballot (which is, i believe, a form of voting).

Still just a waste of your time, regardless of whether it gets ‘recorded’ or not. If you’re going just to scrawl rude words on a bit of paper then just stay at home. Honestly.

I will. Our local councillor is great – I’d vote for him whatever colour rosette he wore. Doubtless he will win a landslide victory, but then if everybody thought that he might not, so I’ll be ticking the box (and it’s not exactly arduous going to vote – polling station is right next to school where I’m dropping off in the morning).

I disagree – it doesn’t look like apathy if he does that, and if enough people did it it would be noticed.

Like @Perchy I vote in everything inc Local, PCC and European … postal voting makes this easy. Local government is important and its “training” for potential MPs too.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/if-there-s-no-one-you-could-stand-to-vote-for-spoil-your-ballot-today-and-let-your-disillusionment-a7014786.html

http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/not-voting-pitifully-ineffective-protest.html

The idea that the Westminster establishment would just give up their grip on power if enough of us refused to vote is hopelessly naive because not only does it fail to explain the actual mechanism by which the election results would be rendered void, it also ignores the very real precedent set by the farcical 2012 PCC elections, which had an average turnout of just 15%, and in several regions (Hampshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Surrey, Norfolk, Humberside, Cumbria & Lincolnshire) the winning candidate garnered less than 5% of the eligible vote! Did any of these new PCCs refuse to accept their £65,000 – £85,000 per year jobs because of a lack of political mandate? Of course they bloody didn’t!

Our parish council elections are something like pick 12 candidates from 14 applicants, so it does seem a bit of a futile vote.

I’ll be voting, however, very disappointed in the lack of political parties putting candidates forward.

Only two parties standing, the choice is between Labour and Plaid Cymru.

Ok for me, as I feel Plaid will do a very good job locally , but there are a lot of people who won’t vote for either of these socialist parties.

I vote and vote and vote some more … 😆

bikebouy – Member

Who is your leader?

This bloke?

or this … ?

😆

I’d take either of those over what we have currently, chewy. At least both of those are competent at their jobs.

I vote for the independent ones and none of the rest.

3 mins and 18 secs.

That’s how long it added to my day to vote this morning on the way to work.

About the same amount of time it took to put out the bins.

But at least putting the bins out was productive and had a tangible positive effect.

I dunno what sort of area you live in Jamie but in my “Burgh” of Kirkcudbright i hope voting will make a difference, I voted earlier on my way back home from a sunrise pedal along the coast for a change to current situation (independent then SNP), We’ve had two main tory councillors for years, both nice enough women but i personally feel that councillors who are millionaire farmers and have successfully lobbied for a £3 million conversion of our town hall into a **** art gallery have sod all relevance to my life and those who surround me yet the local kids have been trying to get a skate park built in the town for 10+ years, the community centre has been shut due to insufficient funds – I could rant for quite a while but it’s too nice outside so i’m away to eat my breakfast in the sun.

perchypanther – Member

3 mins and 18 secs.

That’s how long it added to my day to vote this morning on the way to work.

About the same amount of time it took to put out the bins.

I suspect I might have been even a little quicker – they’ve plonked a portacabin 20 metres from the end of our drive.

Almost comedy sized ballot paper with 20ish candidates on it, choose 4.

My wife is looking forward to it, one of the candidates is a friend of a relative or something, the family all vote for her, some have placards in their garden, she HATES her, can’t wait to vote for anyone else.

Oh, I am voting, and live in hope it will make a difference, but usually doesn’t.

I still vote – though in my mum’s ward I don’t know any of them (other than an SNP person who is pretty rubbish. The other two SNP councillors have stood down, which is a shame). Since she didn’t know anyone, and none appealed, she spoilt her paper..

Have just voted, along with our 17yo daughter voting for first time..

But at least putting the bins out was productive and had a tangible positive effect

Not in Bolton or North Manchester..
Google “Bolton Slim Bin” and report back

pretty quiet at my polling station this morning. I think they were just pleased to see someone, anyone…

independent for me, given he was the only candidate I could actually find anything significant about.

#LibDems4Lyfe

Will Patterson…