I don’t care who you vote for, I only care you vote

The 2023 election is now open with advance voting opening on October 3. William Woodworth writes on why having your say on elected officials shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Whether it’s voter fatigue from consistent campaigning, overall impending negativity, systemic disillusionment, or a multitude of other valid reasons – it’s a vulnerable time for democratic routines worldwide.

Frankly, I don’t care who you choose to vote for. It’s your right as a citizen of a democratic country to make your choice of politicians and parties.

I only care that you vote - because democracy falls apart without you.

Not engaging in politics makes it more likely someone you don’t want to see in power take power, and in my opinion that is more your fault than someone who voted for losing parties - because at least their vote was counted.

Human nature is to have different ideas about society, and no two people agree on absolutely everything. Elections are an extended public debate where whoever’s ideas win over most of the public is given license to implement them.

However, the ability to vote in our officials should never be taken for granted. 2021 was the first year the number of countries following democratic election systems decreased for the first time since 1939, the start of World War 2.

As world outlooks become negative, extreme decision-making becomes more accepted as people look after immediate economic, political, or social interests. Extreme solutions arise when the status quo fails. World War 1 weakened regimes fell to Russian communism, Italian fascism and Japanese imperialism - while the Great Depression on a weak democracy saw the rise of fascism in Germany.

Voting patterns come down to what people believe is better for them and there is no more in-your-face example than America today. Conservative voting electorates has been drawn in by Trumpism because in practise it may not be true, they are told and believe it is better. Simply associating a Democrat policy to Trump with a Trump voter sees a 40 per cent jump in agreement.

However, there’s more to the American story, with the ‘land of the free’ having voting rights consistently made harder for general Americans by their politicians through changing electoral maps, the electoral college, and adding increasingly stringent measures on Election Day because those in power keep it by causing disillusion.

This disillusion, backfiring into Trumpist protectionism, meant the US lost the unipolar world order with ongoing political backlash keeping history’s most dominant power distracted, internally sparring against itself, and leaving room for new bullish powers in weak democracies globally.

Even the UK’s First Past the Post means votes cast for losing candidates, or winning candidates above the level they need to win that seat, count for nothing due to having no party vote. In 2019 for example, the British Conservatives won with 43.6% of the vote and received 56.2% of MP’s, while the Liberal Democrats were voted for by 11.6% and received 1.7% of MP’s.

Political system dissatisfaction is seeping in everywhere and when people don’t feel they have a reason to vote, they don’t. Consistent voting comes from two places – the economically wealthy, and the politically radical.

I am not advocating for any particular political stance and have no issue with parties working within the system of a state’s electoral rules, even if the resulting parliament seats are unfair compared to the voters’ wishes. I just want people to vote for their own sake.

In its truest form, the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) inclusion of party vote seats alongside local MP’s builds party diversity, enables the availability of smaller parties to have valuable voices in the political system within reason, and helps voters allows locals to actively support a candidate championing local causes. It also implements political cross-party alliances to resolve issues.

Other democratic systems limit third parties to footnotes, relying on independents or caucuses within parties to champion more niche campaigns. New Zealand champions either local support through electorates or 5 percent nationwide support through the national party vote for seats at the table.

Although, historic ‘big two’ British style voting patterns means New Zealand sees the least party diversity in MMP systems – generally MMP globally has bloc governments of three or more significant parties.

However, MMP’s ability for change tied in with unengaged voters means voices of committed voters shine through with low turnouts.

The 2022 snap Italian election saw a four-party bloc, led by the fascist-linked ‘Brothers of Italy’, with 26% of the 64% turnout, take the presidency with just 15% of Italians voting for them. ‘Brothers of Italy’ won 4% in 2018, when 73% of Italians voted.

Local German elections saw just 58% of eligible voters turn out in the small town of Sonneburg that elected Germany’s first far right mayor since, well, the last time the far right was in power in Germany.

While democracy in practice is simple, it needs an engaged voting population to work well. But when the average New Zealander fails to vote they unintentionally engineer a scenario where only those with the free time and capital to devote to politics are handed the country on a silver platter.

While you or I may have a docket entirely full of work, chores or childcare, the affluent and the radical are occupied with their own political means. That results in a country where the actual doers surrender their voice because they believe they have more urgent matters to attend to.

With the people most informed on key public issues silent, is it any wonder that politicians take that as a green light to implement out of touch policies and chase the support of the affluent and the radical?

Balanced politics can only occur with a balanced electorate. A more balanced electorate occurs when more people vote.

So, to those who say, “I’m not voting this election”, “why does my vote even matter?”, or “I haven’t done any research”:

- You are in the minority around the world actively able to decide who they want to vote for within a system that actively represents what you want more accurately than most.

- Your vote is the opportunity to support politicians sharing causes you believe in, counter policies you disagree with, and encouraging changes you want to see.

- Your vote, alongside others, gives local and national decision makers license to follow up on the promises they make - and if they don’t, you can remove them.

- Your vote is infinitely more impactful than complaining about a political system that you didn’t have a say in.

Democracy is complicated or confusing, but it’s immensely better than not having a say at all.

The next two weeks is how you back the changes you want to see, so don’t miss out, or you’ve three years to wait.