Nottsbothered about voting?

Emmeline Pankhurst addresses a crowd in 1911. She was one of the founding members of the British suffragette movement, fighting for women to have the right to vote.

June 4th … Oversleep. Bike has a puncture. Really late for work now. Boss is grizzly all day. Finally home. Reheat last night’s leftovers. Call mates. Head for the local. Have a few pints. Get into heated chat about multi-million-pound arts buildings versus support for independent venues. Head home. Fall into bed. Shit… forgot to vote.

Universal suffrage is a relatively recent thing. But it’s not taken long for the novelty to wear off. About 90 years in all. Voter turnout is waning, with just 60 per cent of people eligible to vote making it to the polling station – and that’s in a good year.
Non voters range from people who don’t believe there’s anyone worth voting for to people who don’t know what they are voting for. And then there’s those of us who just don’t get round to it.

What would the Zimbabwean voters make of our excuses? They queued for several hours in 2005 to vote in elections they knew were rigged.

Don’t think the candidates are up to much? At least Mr or Mrs Middle England would have to listen to your idea for replacing Cloughie with a 12-foot-tall homage to Benjamin Zephaniah in Nottingham’s speakers’ corner. Mugabe would torture you for it.

So where have all the voters gone? Perhaps generation Google are too busy surfing to find the polling stations, generation Commodore 64 are too busy obsessing about themselves and generation X are feeling a little bit let down by politics?

Call it being in a place too long. Call it not having enough to do. Call it retirement. Call it a sense of civic duty. Call it being old enough to have read the headlines about Emmeline Pankhurst throwing herself under the King’s horse. The stats show that if you have a bus pass in your clutch bag, you are much more likely to vote than someone who has to raid the penny jar for exact change to get their ticket to ride.

Little wonder, then, that our councillors spend much of their time listening to and acting for people who believe that overgrown grass verges and malfunctioning streetlights make their wakening hours a living nightmare.

It’s not that these issues aren’t important, it’s that these issues aren’t important to everyone. And that’s where the real heart of democracy lies. Your representative is just that – someone to represent your interests.

Voting is only ever the entrance exam. It’s not who you vote for or the results of the vote that earn you the right to lobby your ‘elected representative’. It’s the fact that you voted at all. So whether recycling facilities, cycle paths or major investment in Nottingham’s arts, culture & music are your thing – earn your right to let them know.

Nottinghamshire County Council and European Parliament elections take place in the city and county on June 4th. Visit nottsbothered.com to find out more. Become a Notts bothered fan on Facebook. Make a video fit for You Tube about voting and stand to win £400 of camera equipment.

European Parlimentary elections

More information from your local district council:
Ashfield District Council
Bassetlaw District Council
Broxtowe Borough Council
Gedling Borough Council
Mansfield District Council
Newark and Sherwood District Council
Rushcliffe Borough Council

 

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