It is clear that the main parties lie to get in power and then renege on their promises, and with the current voting system (First Past The Post) there is little chance of electing smaller parties or independants. The solution may well be proportional representation but MPs are unlikely to support that if it means they might not be re-elected.
Voter turnout at the last election was 65.1%. I know of an awful lot of people that will not vote in elections because they think it’s pointless. I disagree with that. Refusing to vote is seen by the goverment as apathy. Spoiling the ballot paper, on the other hand, is actually counted and reported.
Here is what I propose. At the next election, if you were not going to vote, go in anyway and spoil your ballot paper. Moreover, everyone should spoil it in the same way. The ballot papers will be destroyed, but the people doing the counting will notice the pattern and might say something. Yes, you still need to register to vote. No, it won’t help choose the government at the election. What it will do, is gather clear statistics on just how many people are unhappy with the current system.
I am proposing to call it Operation Trashvote. It would need a large campaign, starting on social media but then spreading out via the news media, protests and publicity stunts. The campaign should start as soon as an election is announced. (Hopefully sooner rather than later, if the coalition breaks down.) It will only work if hundreds of thousands of people go out and promote it. If Facebook can get a song to the Christmas number one, and Twitter can raise thousands for the #twitterjoketrial, then we can do this.
Just to be clear, if you were going to vote for a party or person, do it. I think this campaign should be aimed at the people that were not going to vote at all. Make your wasted vote count!
Would you support this? Would you be prepared to help campaign for it? Do you think it should be done slightly differently? Comments are open below, so get talking!