Invisible Suffrage

I was thinking of sticking up my thoughts about last night’s Doctor Who and, whilst I did enjoy it, coming at the end of a crap week I’m not sure I took the whole thing in. I’ll watch it again tonight so I can enjoy it properly before the second part next week.

Apart from anything else, a more pressing matter at the moment is the upcoming general election and the surprising number of people who have still to register. If anyone can read this blog , then they can easily register to vote just by clicking on this link and filling out a few details: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Given the centuries of hard fought battles to gain the vote for everyone it rather annoys me at the number of people that still refuse to participate. I’ve heard people say that not voting is a protest but that is not how it is viewed by politicians. If you don’t vote it is perceived as not being bothered and if you can’t be bothered to vote they will not care about you or other people in your situation. That is why we have had so many policies targeting the welfare of the old who do vote whilst ignoring the younger voters who tend not to bother.

The problem is even more exasperated by those who are not even registered to vote. In those cases the politicians will not so much “not care” about these people rather than to think that they don’t even exist. We have this problem for General Elections as my wife is an EU national and is not entitled to vote for Westminster elections. As a result we have been treated atrociously by most of the Westminster parties over the last year or so. If a significant number of people who are entitled to vote, particularly the young and poor, fail to register they too will become part of this invisible demographic. Registration for the election closes at the end of tomorrow night (22nd June 2017). If you haven’t already received your electoral card then register to vote NOW!