Wasted vote here in Locks Heath/Western Wards – we’ll be Conservative forever…
By CannyKenny | Sunday, April 11, 2010, 20:46
Locks Heath, one of the Western Wards and part of the Fareham Constituency, has been Conservative forever - well certainly for the last 36 years. What’s the point in voting? It’s a wasted vote – and I’ll prove it:
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Voting in Locks Heath - picture by S. Solberg J.
I’ve found this - The Voter Power Index website. It calculates how ‘valuable’ a General Election vote is in each constituency using the size of the constituency and the probability of the seat changing hands.
Fareham’s seat is classed by the website as ‘ultra safe’ and calculates our ‘voter power’ as being a meagre 0.070 votes - 3.57 times LESS than the UK average voter power of 0.253 votes. Even the UK average is low because most of us live in safe seats, where the outcome is pretty much certain regardless of how we vote.
Farehem’s constituency (72,599 voters) is bigger than average constituency (68,433) which means that a voter here is less likely to affect the national result.
The only voters with any real power to change the Government are those who live in marginal constituencies, such as Eastleigh. Here the seat has changed in the past few years. It was Conservative in 1992 and changed to Liberal Democrat in 1997, so although it is also a large constituency (74,163) the ‘Voter Power’ is 0.818. Still not ONE though, as you’d like to think it would be.
So basically - what’s the point?
Comments
Send all Conservative candidates on a ‘Sociology’ course at the local college – that would change their minds! We could then be overwhelmed with Labour Candidates!
By woodyvale at 12:32 on 12/01/11
ReportTotally agree. We have very short memories when it comes to politics. All past Prime Ministers have made a right 'Balls Up' job of it, so what makes you think that a new one will make the slightest difference? MP's are 'Doing it for themselves'. Don't be fooled by the promises. History has shown that their talk is cheap and they will go back on their policies with the usual 'Spin'. Locks Heath is in a right mess. Overcrowding with too many building projects and the local police cannot cope with underfunding. I now have to wait at least a week before I can get to see my GP. The condition of the local roads are terrible and the local parks are in a tired state.
If you do anything tomorrow, take a walk down Hunts Pond Road before you vote and look at what the Local Government has done for us so far!
Don't be taken for a ride
By garywilmore at 09:22 on 05/05/10
ReportNo point at all. There are those who will say that it is your civic duty to vote, or that you have no right to complain about the government if you have not taken part in the election. That of course is just the usual propaganda for and on behalf of the status quo. As the statistics show, the winning candidate in Fareham has almost since there has been universal sufferage, polled as many as or more votes than the next two candidates put together. It so happens in Fareham that he is a conservative but it would equally apply if he was from any other party occupying an ultra safe seat. Where is the motivation for me to vote. If I go with the sitting conservative I will be merely adding to his guaranteed mountain of votes.... he really doesn't need my vote. If I vote labour or lib-dem it will be in the sure and certain knowledge that they will not get even remotely close to winning. As the first past the post system does not count my vote for any other purpose I really cannot see the point. In Fareham as in any other safe seat, the ruling party could put up a baby eating, wife beating orang-utan as a candidate and it would still win a comfortable majority. I will choose to register my vote as a non vote. A very low turn out will get more notice than the usual very predictable result .
Petermac
By Petermac57 at 08:05 on 05/05/10
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