Voting - should it be an automatic right?
Normally I plan these blogs out (believe it or not) but this time I am writing as things pop into my head.
This is not about voting in something like the General Election (my view is that if you are eligible to vote you should make your voice heard whatever your political view), but about the current Labour leadership election.
We have had the personal attacks and the people worried that a vote for Corbyn will either not work or will work or whatever. The biggest issue is with who is allowed to vote.
Basically, if you are a party member it is now one person one vote. Last time I had two votes as I was a party member and I was a member of Unison. That has all changed now and that is probably right. I was never comfortable with the idea of having two votes so one person one vote is fine by me. However, you don't have to be a member to get a vote. You also can be a supporter for £3.00 and get a vote that way. This has led to worries that people are paying their £3.00 and voting and yet they actually belong to other parties and are trying to skew the results.
Because of this fear the Labour Party have been setting up checks to see if people are genuine supporters or not. There have been issues with this from the start though as some life long supporters have been denied a vote and they claim it is because they are too left wing (so would vote for Corbyn) or they have declared support for another party in the past (that sort of thing). That is bad enough. but other stories are coming out now and it all sounds a little too familiar to me.
In the story '1984' by George Orwell (which I am reading again at the moment) 'comrades' are encouraged to report other's who they suspect are renegades and traitors to the 'party' and 'Big Brother'. Children join the spies and are encouraged to report even their own parents, co-workers are constantly on the look out. In fact, you can't even have friends because you are likely to be spying on them all the time. Relationships such as marriage are discouraged as well. There needs to be complete control. Well, these Labour Party checks are starting to look a little 'Big Brother' at times.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Party, I really do and I am not going to say here who I have voted for. I just want the best for my Party and for the country I live in. I don't know of anyone who would be trying to skew the membership, I just know that this sort of thing could go on so I totally accept there should be checks. It comes to something when the team write to members and ask them to look for anyone they know who they suspect of infiltrating the vote. Basically one would be expected to 'shop' other members and supporters. This is a little concerning.
On the one hand I am all for strict checks. We want the best for the Party and the country. On the other I am a little concerned that ordinary members and supporters are being involved and innocent people are having their votes denied. It doesn't come across well in the press either.
I am not sure their is a perfect answer, but coming across like something out of '1984' certainly isn't it.
This is not about voting in something like the General Election (my view is that if you are eligible to vote you should make your voice heard whatever your political view), but about the current Labour leadership election.
We have had the personal attacks and the people worried that a vote for Corbyn will either not work or will work or whatever. The biggest issue is with who is allowed to vote.
Basically, if you are a party member it is now one person one vote. Last time I had two votes as I was a party member and I was a member of Unison. That has all changed now and that is probably right. I was never comfortable with the idea of having two votes so one person one vote is fine by me. However, you don't have to be a member to get a vote. You also can be a supporter for £3.00 and get a vote that way. This has led to worries that people are paying their £3.00 and voting and yet they actually belong to other parties and are trying to skew the results.
Because of this fear the Labour Party have been setting up checks to see if people are genuine supporters or not. There have been issues with this from the start though as some life long supporters have been denied a vote and they claim it is because they are too left wing (so would vote for Corbyn) or they have declared support for another party in the past (that sort of thing). That is bad enough. but other stories are coming out now and it all sounds a little too familiar to me.
In the story '1984' by George Orwell (which I am reading again at the moment) 'comrades' are encouraged to report other's who they suspect are renegades and traitors to the 'party' and 'Big Brother'. Children join the spies and are encouraged to report even their own parents, co-workers are constantly on the look out. In fact, you can't even have friends because you are likely to be spying on them all the time. Relationships such as marriage are discouraged as well. There needs to be complete control. Well, these Labour Party checks are starting to look a little 'Big Brother' at times.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Party, I really do and I am not going to say here who I have voted for. I just want the best for my Party and for the country I live in. I don't know of anyone who would be trying to skew the membership, I just know that this sort of thing could go on so I totally accept there should be checks. It comes to something when the team write to members and ask them to look for anyone they know who they suspect of infiltrating the vote. Basically one would be expected to 'shop' other members and supporters. This is a little concerning.
On the one hand I am all for strict checks. We want the best for the Party and the country. On the other I am a little concerned that ordinary members and supporters are being involved and innocent people are having their votes denied. It doesn't come across well in the press either.
I am not sure their is a perfect answer, but coming across like something out of '1984' certainly isn't it.
Comments
Post a Comment