Election 2015.... your thoughts ????

I vote swapped with someone in Cornwall as we are both in marginals but our preferred candidates can't win so we voted on behalf of each other so our votes counted more. DIY electoral reform!!
 
I'm voting Labour but in a safe Tory seat. Annoying. Will still vote for them anyway. Most people I know are voting Labour/Green but I think that's because I know a lot of liberal creative types!
 
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I am not voting for the first time in a long time. I have no right to complain / comment on the way the country is run as I haven't voted. It was a conscious decision. At the risk of sounding ignorant and uneducated I don't think there is much to choose between any power. Things that matter to some folk don't matter to others. But I am just not in the zone with it at all this time. I have enough troubles of my own.
 
IMHO, if you need one good reason alone for voting Labour, it's that they will immediately abolish the Bedroom Tax, which is a despicable tax on the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society. That gets my vote (and helps explain why I'd rather poke an eye out than ever vote Conservative.)
 
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I am not voting for the first time in a long time. I have no right to complain / comment on the way the country is run as I haven't voted. It was a conscious decision. At the risk of sounding ignorant and uneducated I don't think there is much to choose between any power. Things that matter to some folk don't matter to others. But I am just not in the zone with it at all this time. I have enough troubles of my own.
I think that choosing not to vote is a perfectly valid decision. The electoral system and our 'democracy' is deeply flawed. If you loathe all the parties/candidates, why should you be forced to pick one? It's like asking a condemned man to choose which weapon to kill him with. I absolutely disagree with this 'if you don't vote, you don't deserve a say' malarkey.
 
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As usual I really don't think it matters who gets in. They are all a bunch of lying, cheating, pocket lining, selfish buggers anyway. None of them ever really achieve what they promise and only ever do anything that will ultimately benefit themselves and their MP's.
 
I think that choosing not to vote is a perfectly valid decision. The electoral system and our 'democracy' is deeply flawed. If you loathe all the parties/candidates, why should you be forced to pick one? It's like asking a condemned man to choose which weapon to kill him with. I absolutely disagree with this 'if you don't vote, you don't deserve a say' malarkey.

In a democracy the decision not to vote is down to the individual, flawed or not what we have is what we've got, would never force anyone to vote and the vote wouldn't be worth the paper its written on - however the decision not to vote does for me morally reduce the right of that individual to bemoan the governments policies at every opportunity - I also think its a shame, especially in the case of Women, when the right for us to vote was earned in blood.
 
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If I really could not choose between equally unpleasant options I would spoil a ballot paper rather than not vote at all. There is a huge different between someone who is just apathetic about politics and could not care less, versus someone who does care but is disillusioned with all parties. Spoiled votes get counted and if there are lots of them then it tells smaller parties how much disaffection there is out there and makes them more likely to try and bring some new options into politics. Whereas just not voting achieves nothing at all.
 
I have cast my votes now...couldnt voted for who I would have like to vote for in the parlimentary election :(

But in my local election I have voted Green Party... and from this week will be a member of there party now.

That is brilliant, go you. As Gandhi said, 'be the change you want to see in the world!'
 
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Haven't voted yet, will do when I get home. Have to say I didn't have a clue who I was going to.vote for earlier today but have done a bit more reading over the day and have made my mind up.
 
Struck by you being so keen to vote Green. How much do you know about them? They favour cutting copyright to 14 years.
The Society of Authors opposes this. Writers have a very low average income. Many of us slog away for years and are usually not paid for our academic research and writing. We deserve some payment when it is borrowed or photocopied and used in schools and colleges.
 
I registered for an overseas vote simply so that I could vote for a party that wasn't UKIP. I didn't put a great deal of thought into who to vote for and I don't really know who I do want to run the country but I sure as hell know who I don't! I may have chosen to leave but my family and friends are still there and I don't want them living in a country run by a bunch of bigots!
 
Struck by you being so keen to vote Green. How much do you know about them? They favour cutting copyright to 14 years.
The Society of Authors opposes this. Writers have a very low average income. Many of us slog away for years and are usually not paid for our academic research and writing. We deserve some payment when it is borrowed or photocopied and used in schools and colleges.
I don't think the copyright issue (which I did not know about) has much bearing on the popularity of the Greens, most people like them for their environmental and social policies. I love most of their environmental and social policies, my problem with the Greens is that I don't think a lot of their policies would be popular in practise, or are costed or affordable.
 
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