So, the other day, me and some friends got into an argument about voting. I only wanted to state a fun fact, that you are more likely to get penalised for not registering to vote than not voting afterwards, which I had read somewhere recently. One of my friends just outright said, ‘You’re wrong,’ because where I had read this on some online article, it said it was illegal to not register to vote. That, I hold my hands up, was wrong, but the rest of what I said is, as I say, a fun fact. I only wanted to impart some fun knowledge to lighten the mood put forward when someone says, ‘Have we all registered to vote then? Be sure to vote XXX!’
I am far from a political person. Many people last year for the referendum whose birthdays were after June or not ’til next year were complaining that they could not vote, but I was glad to be a July birthday, and to me it was a lucky escape. In my generation, there is only one option of who to vote for, in this upcoming general election but also for the referendum last year. Yet, we are so uneducated in politics that I honestly have no idea how people my age can argue so blatantly about why they were right to vote XXX.
The reason for the XXX is because I am a big believer in not flaunting your vote. The campaigners for each party or side are, in my opinion, the only people who should be telling you who to vote for, because that is their job. I don’t want nineteen-year-old undergrad first years telling me what’s right and what’s wrong, nor do I want celebrities forcing their views down other people’s throats.
To be perfectly honest, I really wish I was still seventeen so I did not have to vote this year. I openly admit to having no knowledge of any party running other than the popularity battle going on between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbin (one newspaper running a story entitled, alongside a picture of Mrs May, ‘Vote for me, I’m not Jez’.)
We need educating more, but for some reason, whenever anyone tries to do that, they make it dull. I highly recommend the Channel 4 show The Last Leg for a fun perspective on the news, as they also seem to be the only show I’ve come across that is wholly unbiased as they get their points across. We need more things like that, which will make politics fun and interesting, not the dull, argument-causing, fun-killer it is at the moment.
I hope you vote based on what you know and what you feel is best in this election and not just because your friends are telling you what to do. They know as much as you, and if you want to look into each party a bit more, you will know more than them. At the end of the day, if it’s not the result you want, just move on. There’s no point wasting time on politics you cannot control. It’s really just like ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent. If you don’t like the winner, what can you do about it but complain online? It’s not going to change the result.
Happy election! Vote independently and wisely.
~ Mia
Wrong | Century 