The American social reformer and campaigner for universal suffrage, Susan B Anthony, once wrote “Someone struggled for your right to vote. Use it.” Hear! Hear!
I believed voting was part of Irish DNA. Unfortunately statistics show more and more people are opting out of voting. In fact, there are more non-voters than voters for any single party in the north, Britain or Ireland.
Some distinguished voices are proud non-voters. But that’s short-sighted and, in some ways, self-harming to society too.
Not all politicians are the same and whilst some could not lie straight, others are principled, hardworking and dedicated.
The delivery and experience of 14 years of Conservative rule has shattered into smithereens the fragile trust between politicians and people. In truth, public office has been corrupted, politics has been dragged into the gutter and the reputations of all politicians have been smeared.
If, as expected, Keir Starmer becomes the next prime minister, his first priority is to regain the trust of citizens, build a sense of hope and restore confidence in public institutions.
I believe voting should be compulsory.
One can still spoil a ballot paper but at least one has to participate in the process and not lie in the scratcher grumbling or pontificating from the pub.
It’s not that long ago, since all Catholics - Presbyterians and Methodists, too - in Ireland were denied the right to vote. Catholic emancipation was hard won by the Great Liberator, Daniel O’Connell.
Casting my first vote in the cauldron election of 1981, I instinctively knew, as Lincoln had said, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet”. Others within militant republicanism were slow to catch up on either the principle or practice
Within touching history, one can still hear the clarion call of those behind the civil rights movement such as Bernadette Devlin, Tommy Keane, Austin Currie, Paddy O’Hanlon and the McCloskeys of “One man, one vote.”
So quite a few in the north struggled to secure the right to vote. They earned it - we inherited it.
Casting my first vote in the cauldron election of 1981, I instinctively knew, as Lincoln had said, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet”. Others within militant republicanism were slow to catch up on either the principle or practice.
Non-voters often gripe about politics, politicians and the system of governance but do nothing to change it. In fact, some prefer the mantle of perpetual grinch.
Unfortunately, social media provides anonymous disruptors with the perfect platform to vent their spleens to a ready-made, carnivorous audience of malcontents, moaning Minnie’s and serial complainers. There really should be a kind of Britain’s Got Talentless competition for the worst of these whiners.
Not voting is an opt-out. And ultimately non-voters get the representation they deserve.
Thanks to the single transferable vote, there’s the opportunity to choose someone you least dislike. In a first-past-the-post system, sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and place that X.
Living in Northern Ireland can make voting challenging.
Some of the leading proponents/players are haughty, self-absorbed and devoid of any self-awareness. There’s a communal expectation to vote tribally lest one lets ‘our side down’ and the ‘other side in’.
Politics is supposed to be about values, policies, principles and priorities. What we sometimes get is vanity, nitpicking, oneupmanship, pettiness and sectarianism. The various leader/candidate interviews were telling - some opted out of being interviewed, others made a dog’s dinner out of the opportunity and a few bordered on the bizarre. But scrutiny, accountability and transparency are the pillars of a democracy.
That said, there are good people standing for election who have conviction, compassion and courage. Filter out the chaff.
Weaknesses have been exposed in all the main parties: DUP backpedalling, a Rolls-Royce-driving UUP colonel, an out-of-state Alliance aspirant who isn’t campaigning, a tongue-tied, normally loquacious SF newbie, an electoral pact for the TUV which is threadbare and an all-too-frank SDLP quip which resulted in the wrong headline.
Elections are determined by those who show up; anyone who doesn’t is simply whistling in the wind.
