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Doughnuts for Voters (and some other sensible ideas...)
Friday, July 11th 2008
Would you vote if you thought you might win a doughnut? Or an iPod?
The government has come up with a list of different ideas to try and get people voting in their local area. Some of the suggestions are good, some of them we’re not so sure about, but ultimately they still don't solve the underlying problem. If your vote doesn't count, you're unlikely to bother voting.
Here at X-Change, we’d vote anyway, doughnuts or not, because we feel voting is an important part of being a citizen. We wouldn’t say no to a doughnut either, or an iPod for that matter, but it feels like the Government is missing the point a bit. People vote because they think it’ll make a difference to the result, not because they might win an mp3 player or some form of baked goods.
But people don’t feel like they can make a difference to an election. Often there isn’t much choice between the same old, white, male candidates, and in most local areas, the voting system means you know who’s going to win anyway. You could pin a red rosette on a doughnut and it would win in Peckham (although you’d probably get jam on your fingers).
There are some more serious ideas in there too, like making the police in your area more accountable and making councils respond to official petitions. These are interesting, and should probably be tried out to see if they help, but Hazel Blears, whose job is to look at reengaging people with their local communities is picking round the edges at this problem.
“In many parts of the country, local democracy needs a boost, with low turnout at local elections and people feeling they can’t influence the way issues are decided in their area”, she said. That’s fair enough, but it seems fair to us to say that if you carry on using a voting system that isn’t fair and doesn’t let you use your vote to the full, then all these extra ideas won’t help that much.
So until the government realise they need to change the voting system, we’re off to get doughnuts.
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