Go out and vote

Democracy in action and progress.

Democracy is a precious gift to citizens in the countries around the world. You have a freedom to elect a candidate to run for political office. Whether is local, regional or National. Democracy is something that cannot be taken for granted. 

As voters in the UK are going to the polls tomorrow (6th May 2021) for local elections, there is something that can make anyone be less interested to participate voting at the polling station. Voter apathy. 

Now this is something I want to tell you why voting at elections of any kind is important despite wherever you live in the world (unless you happen to live in a country that doesn’t have democracy). 

1. Many movements have campaigned to give the people like me and you the right to vote.

Whether is the women’s suffragette movement, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela, they all created a movement to campaign on giving people like myself & you the right to vote. 

2. Political topics matters whether is local, national or international. 

If you cared about the issues & that you don’t like what is happening around you, you can change it by going out to vote. If you don’t vote then how are you be complaining about issues while you haven’t gone to the polling booth. Don’t complain if you didn’t vote at elections. 

Not voting at the elections (for no reasons genuinely, doing nothing & staying at home) could automatically mean you would rather prefer the candidate & the political party that you do not like to win (even you didn’t really give a vote for them physically with ballot paper). Not voting means low voter turnout & that can benefit political party & candidate that you do not like it.

Example. I feel let down & angry & that I strongly dislikes the Tories in the UK. Because of their policies including austerity and Brexit. 

When 2017 general election was announced, I made up my mind that I will not vote & that I will abstain. Because of that, my friends (especially people that I know) convinced me to vote even it is okay to be disappointed where the country is going & with the awful leadership. Friend of mine told me that it is not a wise idea to not be interested to vote even if you are not interested of politics & that if I didn’t voted it then I would have no right to complain about the issues that affects the country & that I would had let the Conservatives win (voter apathy = not voting even you didn’t give a vote to them). Within weeks & I see that the Tories under Theresa May were not doing well, I changed my mind & on the Election Day, I voted. 

So my point is that it is okay to be frustrated & not happy with the political system but not going out to vote, you’ll be making a wrong decision not to do so & that you will later regret it for not doing your duty to vote in a democracy in where you live in the world.

Having said that, voting matters & political topics matters.

So if you get many people to vote in different ways (if not at the polling station but also proxy voting, overseas voting & postal voting/Mail in voting) then that can increase the voter turnout & that you get voter turnout. Example: US Election 2020 with the highest voter turnout in a century. google.co.uk 

There are some countries that voting is compulsory. Australia and Argentina. Here in the UK, it is not compulsory but it is an encouragement for everyone to exercise his/her right to vote. 

Another thing is that voter suppression can block a person from voting. Despite the political opinions or political party you support/don’t support, nobody should ever condone & encourage voter suppression because it is never acceptable. It causes a low voter suppression & there are some in the minority who thinks it is okay to stop people from taking part to cast a vote. So it is not cool. Voter suppression. 

3. Spoiled votes?

Well it is up to you if you want to. However I will not recommend it. It is a waste of time and energy so why on earth would you spoilt a ballot papers? There isn’t a “none of the above” option section. I wish there is one & to be honest, I wouldn’t mind if there is to be “none of the above” option. 

So in my point of view, spoiled ballots is not a wise idea. Like I said, I will not recommend it. It’s your choice. So what you like. 

Conclusion: Democracy can be messy. Politics in general is messy. 

Voter apathy can be dealt with & being resolved when people goes to the polls. The moment when the person who is a registered voter, becomes a statistic by not participating in democracy so please I beg you, do not throw away your vote. It’s okay to be not okay about how the political system is run & how the country is run but if you do throw your vote away by not voting, you will regret it eventually & that you won’t say on the political issues that you do care about. Even if you are not interested of politics. 

So please go out and vote wherever you live in the world. Thank you. 

P.S 

If you do happen to live in the UK, listen up, tomorrow’s Election Day for local elections so it is your duty to participate in a democracy. I made a blog post about local elections 2021 with my endorsement. mrlimitless95.blogspot.com