Why do People Choose Not to Vote?

People each have their own reasons for not voting. Some people are not registered to vote; some people simply cannot be bothered to; some people don’t see the point and believe their vote counts for nothing. In the UK, voter turnout in general elections used to be much higher than it is today. In the 2010 election, 65.1 per cent of the population turned out, compared to 83.9 per cent in 1950. This possibly reflects a growing disillusionment with politics and politicians; perhaps it also reflects a changing society – one where people are less engaged with the issues of the day.

Of course, there are a variety of different political systems and this can influence whether people turn out to vote or not. In a first-past-the-post system, there may seem less reason to vote when there isn’t that much choice. In the UK, this is the very system that is in place and, usually, the outcome is that either Labour or the Conservatives end up in power. The 2010 election threw up an unusual result in that there was a hung parliament and a coalition was created between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. Usually, though, there is a clear-cut ‘winner’ and if you want to vote for a minority party it almost seems to be a waste of time.

There are other systems that use some kind of proportional representation, so that even votes for a minority party count, as votes for them lead to representation in the national legislature. Voter turnout in countries with this kind of system tends to be higher, whether it’s because people are more interested in the issues or they simply believe that their vote counts for something and do not want to waste it. Even then, there are people who still choose not to vote, but it certainly seems that people are politically literate enough to realise that not voting could lead to a party that they do not want in power to end up in charge of the country.

There are other reasons why people decide not to vote besides laziness or disillusionment; for some people there isn’t the option to vote. In countries where war is prevalent or where there is a threat of violence, some people may decide it is just not worth the risk to vote, especially if the outcome of an election is likely to be predetermined and manipulated, anyway. People in safe, Western countries probably take for granted their right to vote, but not everyone is so lucky. The fight for suffrage was fought in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the West, but in some countries, universal suffrage is still far from being achieved, as is the case in Saudi Arabia. Although there are those who maintain people should vote whatever the situation, surely it is more important that people have the option to vote in the first place.