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| Our dismal EU ballot papers say it all: this electoral system is corrupt | Our dismal EU ballot papers say it all: this electoral system is corrupt |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| How charmingly quaint is that walk down the road to the church hall polling station. How civilised are the party workers collecting numbers outside, politely conversing across an ideological chasm. Inside, two officials ticking off names as they hand out ballot papers seem part of history. In the booth, a pencil – a pencil! | How charmingly quaint is that walk down the road to the church hall polling station. How civilised are the party workers collecting numbers outside, politely conversing across an ideological chasm. Inside, two officials ticking off names as they hand out ballot papers seem part of history. In the booth, a pencil – a pencil! |
| What an archaic anachronism. This is the way old folks vote and the young don't. Why on earth can't everyone vote on the same mobile phones that are trusted to transfer mountains of money worldwide? It suits too many of the 580 MPs in rock-solid safe seats not to bother much about the mass of non-voting young people and low earners. | What an archaic anachronism. This is the way old folks vote and the young don't. Why on earth can't everyone vote on the same mobile phones that are trusted to transfer mountains of money worldwide? It suits too many of the 580 MPs in rock-solid safe seats not to bother much about the mass of non-voting young people and low earners. |
| Of all our democracy's dysfunctions, the method of voting might seem a small one – but modernising elections would be a sign that Westminster was serious about the cataclysmic decline in turnout. As it stands, so long as the old parties reckon on slipping into Downing Street on a barely legitimate 35% of the vote, their pious handwringing and furrowed brows is all just crocodile tears. | Of all our democracy's dysfunctions, the method of voting might seem a small one – but modernising elections would be a sign that Westminster was serious about the cataclysmic decline in turnout. As it stands, so long as the old parties reckon on slipping into Downing Street on a barely legitimate 35% of the vote, their pious handwringing and furrowed brows is all just crocodile tears. |
| Those who don't vote don't count, and end up paying a heavy price. However well intentioned, Labour can't get itself elected by pleading the cause of needy non-voters: so elections depend on ever fewer swing votes in a diminishing number of marginals. These are middling people, just interested enough to vote but not to pay much attention to politics – yet these indifferents decide the fate of a country more ideologically riven than ever. | Those who don't vote don't count, and end up paying a heavy price. However well intentioned, Labour can't get itself elected by pleading the cause of needy non-voters: so elections depend on ever fewer swing votes in a diminishing number of marginals. These are middling people, just interested enough to vote but not to pay much attention to politics – yet these indifferents decide the fate of a country more ideologically riven than ever. |
| The angry alienated may not care about electoral systems, but they might be even angrier if they knew what harm they suffer from their voting boycott. At the last election 76% of over-65s voted, compared with 44% of under-24s – a 32-point difference. And a 23-point gap shows by how much high-earners outnumbered low earners. Professor Sarah Birch's research for the Institute for Public Policy Research shows the toxic effect of these two factors together: only a third of under-35s earning £10,000 or less voted, so their voice was swamped by the 80% of over-55s earning £40,000 or more who did. | The angry alienated may not care about electoral systems, but they might be even angrier if they knew what harm they suffer from their voting boycott. At the last election 76% of over-65s voted, compared with 44% of under-24s – a 32-point difference. And a 23-point gap shows by how much high-earners outnumbered low earners. Professor Sarah Birch's research for the Institute for Public Policy Research shows the toxic effect of these two factors together: only a third of under-35s earning £10,000 or less voted, so their voice was swamped by the 80% of over-55s earning £40,000 or more who did. |
| Now look how this government rewards those who vote and punishes those who don't. In the chancellor's first spending review, average voters suffered a cut of 12% – £1,850 each. But non-voters – the young and poor – lost 20%, or £2,135. | Now look how this government rewards those who vote and punishes those who don't. In the chancellor's first spending review, average voters suffered a cut of 12% – £1,850 each. But non-voters – the young and poor – lost 20%, or £2,135. |
| Our democracy prides itself on probity: cheating is negligible. But the system itself is now so corrupt it warps everything. Marginals are plied with good things: no hospitals ever close in marginals, says the Electoral Reform Society. For a glimpse of pork-barrel politics, look at the loot that Danny Alexander has brought from the Treasury to secure his patch in Scotland: ski lifts, petrol tax breaks, a sleeper train and exemptions from housing benefit cuts. Meanwhile, the chancellor's father-in-law tells the Lords the "desolate north-east" should be fracked – desolate only of Tory votes. | Our democracy prides itself on probity: cheating is negligible. But the system itself is now so corrupt it warps everything. Marginals are plied with good things: no hospitals ever close in marginals, says the Electoral Reform Society. For a glimpse of pork-barrel politics, look at the loot that Danny Alexander has brought from the Treasury to secure his patch in Scotland: ski lifts, petrol tax breaks, a sleeper train and exemptions from housing benefit cuts. Meanwhile, the chancellor's father-in-law tells the Lords the "desolate north-east" should be fracked – desolate only of Tory votes. |
| Rotten boroughs abound: by today some 105 councils will be ruled at least 75% by one party, mainly Tory. Manchester may be 100% Labour when you read this: only by good luck is it a good council, despite no opposition scrutiny. Voters think first-past-the-post is unfair, understanding how few of their votes count: in marginals more surge to the polls, as they know their votes matter. | Rotten boroughs abound: by today some 105 councils will be ruled at least 75% by one party, mainly Tory. Manchester may be 100% Labour when you read this: only by good luck is it a good council, despite no opposition scrutiny. Voters think first-past-the-post is unfair, understanding how few of their votes count: in marginals more surge to the polls, as they know their votes matter. |
| Why didn't people opt for at least modest reform in the alternative vote referendum three years ago? Partly because of a huge Tory donor-funded no campaign: more fool them, as AV would have helped see off Ukip. But mainly this was a case of voters wreaking revenge on what was a Lib Dem project. Tory fools also blocked Lib Dem Lords reform, which allowed Nick Clegg to wreck boundary changes that would, of course, have favoured David Cameron. Stupid doesn't begin to describe Conservative folly. As for Labour, Ed Miliband is a voting reformer –but the party was split, safe-seaters tribally opposed. Besides, the chance to crush the boundary changes at the cost of losing Lords reform was just too irresistible. | Why didn't people opt for at least modest reform in the alternative vote referendum three years ago? Partly because of a huge Tory donor-funded no campaign: more fool them, as AV would have helped see off Ukip. But mainly this was a case of voters wreaking revenge on what was a Lib Dem project. Tory fools also blocked Lib Dem Lords reform, which allowed Nick Clegg to wreck boundary changes that would, of course, have favoured David Cameron. Stupid doesn't begin to describe Conservative folly. As for Labour, Ed Miliband is a voting reformer –but the party was split, safe-seaters tribally opposed. Besides, the chance to crush the boundary changes at the cost of losing Lords reform was just too irresistible. |
| That self-interest is why voters are right not to trust Westminster to reform itself. The old duopoly tries to force a multi-party electorate into its two-party mould. If there was a genuine sense of a crisis of legitimacy, Westminster would do its utmost to encourage voting. | That self-interest is why voters are right not to trust Westminster to reform itself. The old duopoly tries to force a multi-party electorate into its two-party mould. If there was a genuine sense of a crisis of legitimacy, Westminster would do its utmost to encourage voting. |
| Even without changing the system, millions more might vote if it were made easier. At least 6 million are not registered, mainly the young and poor in precarious housing. So why not allow anyone to register as they vote? (The Electoral Reform Society has a secure way.) Let people vote in any polling station, anywhere: New Zealand does it. Keep polling stations open for a week: ignore media demands for next-day results. | Even without changing the system, millions more might vote if it were made easier. At least 6 million are not registered, mainly the young and poor in precarious housing. So why not allow anyone to register as they vote? (The Electoral Reform Society has a secure way.) Let people vote in any polling station, anywhere: New Zealand does it. Keep polling stations open for a week: ignore media demands for next-day results. |
| Local councils gerrymander, so take control nationally of election funding. There is a great variation in spending on efforts to register voters or to make voting easy. There should be huge voting signs hung out everywhere, but rotten boroughs – especially Tory ones – don't want hoi polloi at their polls. | Local councils gerrymander, so take control nationally of election funding. There is a great variation in spending on efforts to register voters or to make voting easy. There should be huge voting signs hung out everywhere, but rotten boroughs – especially Tory ones – don't want hoi polloi at their polls. |
| Votes at 16 would help, especially if their first vote was compulsory, and it was taught in citizenship classes: many adults who have never voted secretly fear they don't know how. None of these are "the answer" to the great disconnect, but while Westminster fails to do all it can, we know its MPs sit too complacently in their safe seats. | Votes at 16 would help, especially if their first vote was compulsory, and it was taught in citizenship classes: many adults who have never voted secretly fear they don't know how. None of these are "the answer" to the great disconnect, but while Westminster fails to do all it can, we know its MPs sit too complacently in their safe seats. |
| Of course the "answer" lies in the nature of politics itself. But our rotten centre-ground-seeking voting system turns politicians into constipated rabbits, afraid to say anything original, battered by press and Twitter for gaffes if they do. Off-the-leash free-speakers like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson are liberated from those constraints. All politicians' tongues would be freed too if voters could choose each MP from a pool of six party candidates in a multi-constituency system. The dismal closed list displayed on your EU ballot paper yesterday said it all: Blair's legacy is a list of names chosen by head office for their obedience, voters excluded from choosing the best. | Of course the "answer" lies in the nature of politics itself. But our rotten centre-ground-seeking voting system turns politicians into constipated rabbits, afraid to say anything original, battered by press and Twitter for gaffes if they do. Off-the-leash free-speakers like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson are liberated from those constraints. All politicians' tongues would be freed too if voters could choose each MP from a pool of six party candidates in a multi-constituency system. The dismal closed list displayed on your EU ballot paper yesterday said it all: Blair's legacy is a list of names chosen by head office for their obedience, voters excluded from choosing the best. |
| We need a politics free to espouse bolder policies that seize the public imagination. Trust comes with enthusiasm for a cause; both main parties fail. Labour has a year to make its tentative policies bold enough to fly. I've heard plenty of Labour candidates this time yearn for a signature pledge to take back the railways, as 19 franchises come free in the next parliament. The lesson from Ukip is: who dares wins. | We need a politics free to espouse bolder policies that seize the public imagination. Trust comes with enthusiasm for a cause; both main parties fail. Labour has a year to make its tentative policies bold enough to fly. I've heard plenty of Labour candidates this time yearn for a signature pledge to take back the railways, as 19 franchises come free in the next parliament. The lesson from Ukip is: who dares wins. |
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