A plea for tomorrow's European elections

[nanila]

Tomorrow, for the first time in my 10 years in the UK, I will be able to vote.

Speaking as someone for whom that right was hard-earned and is extremely precious, I ask that if you have the ability to do so, please, please vote tomorrow. It was not so long ago that many of us were not allowed to vote. It's a power we must utilise. For those of us who find it difficult to engage publicly with politics (I count myself among these), it's our only power in that sphere. As hard as we might try to keep our heads down and ignore politics, its influence shapes our lives. I have been powerless to affect the UK's politics since I moved here, though the changes in government during my stay (and in particular those related to immigration policy) have certainly had an effect on my life.

I am delighted and grateful to have that power now, and I will use it. I hope you will too, if you can.

Comments

[cxcvi]

Already done. Think I'll have to do this postal voting thing more, in the future.

[nanila]

Sounds like a plan. Postal voting always worked for me in the States - mostly because people were so pushy about asking who you were voting for if you physically went to the polls. :(

[cosmolinguist]

I'm so so glad you get to vote this time.

(I've never been so heartbroken that I can't, since I moved here, and I've always been politically active so that's saying something. :) )

I've similarly exhorted everyone I know to go and vote. The European elections particularly are far too important to neglect.

[nanila]

Thanks. I'm...not sure my vote did any good. The West Midlands has voted in 2 Con, 2 Lab and 3 UKIP MEPs. The one Lib Dem MP lost his seat.

[cosmolinguist]

I'm somewhat consoled by the fact that hardly anyone I know can name any of their MEPs (or, the ones they had until today), which shows how important people consider this for the other 4.9 years until the next election, and I hope these new UKIP ones continue the practice of never showing up to meetings or votes because at least then they won't make things worse.

[rmc28]

Spouse & I are heading to the polling station shortly.

[nanila]

Hurrah for voting!

(OMG THE RESULTS)

[sunflowerinrain]

Fingers crossed for sense to outvote ignorance and fear.

I'll be voting in France. I know what I'd vote if I were in Suffolk. Here it's complicated (we vote by areas, and in the West there are 11 seats so 11 votes to be cast); even when the extremists and nationalists and narrowly-focused are eliminated there is still a pile of papers to read.

So many people really don't know what the EU and European Parliament do and what they're for. Dunno how much is explained in schools, but it's not enough: silly "news"papers putting out fake stories about EU regulations have had a bigger impact on the collective consciousness. I'm having trouble reading Facebook right now... some of my relatives... oh dear. And they're third-generation immigrants themselves!

[nanila]

Fingers crossed for sense to outvote ignorance and fear.

Er.

But...hurrah for voting!

[pretty_panther]

Family outing to the polls tonight :) And been poking people on fb to go :P Feel pretty certain my lj/dw friends would vote but not so confident on fb so trying hard there.

[nanila]

Yes, I even posted to FB about it, and I post to FB about politics even less frequently than I post here.

[duccio]

That goes for us in the US too. If you want gun nut, anti-science, religious zealot racists running your life, stay home and don't vote. See how that works for you, especially if you are poor, a minority/immigrant, young, female, and/or an independent thinker.

VOTE!

Have a life.

[nanila]

Not voting is letting other people choose for you. I really wish people wouldn't disenfranchise themselves that way.

[darkemeralds]

Congratulations on your enfranchisement. There's a tendency to feel that one's vote doesn't count, but a) it does; b) your action in voting influences others to vote; and c) what you say hear about how it's the only power many of us have in the political sphere is worth repeating.

[nanila]

Thank you. I'm glad I voted, although my vote didn't exactly make a huge difference in the West Midlands results. 2 Con, 2 Lab and 3 UKIP (ARGH) MEPs.

[darkemeralds]

I've been watching the rather discouraging results. I understand that voter turnout was very low, and people seem to feel that had it been higher, the results would have been quite different (i.e., more to the left and labour). It's certainly true in the US that there are more Democratic than Republican voters, which is why the right wing of the Republican party has undertaking massive efforts to restrict voting. It's working, too.

Is anything like that going on in the UK?