SWAP MY VOTE is finally LIVE - Tactical voting and vote swapping could give us a Remain Parliament

4 posts
GuyD73
Posts: 459
Joined: Mar 2013
Options:
Share this post on:

SWAP MY VOTE is finally LIVE - Tactical voting and vote swapping could give us a Remain Parliament

Postby GuyD73 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:10 pm

I'm delighted that this vote swapping site has just launched and, in addition to tactical voting for Remain, it gives us another way to make sure our vote counts for more in the coming GE. Our 'First past the post' system favours the two larger parties and is ridiculously unfair and undemocratic.
 

Not only does it mean loads of people vote Green without getting any Parliamentary representation (other than the awesome Caroline Lucas), but on the other side, millions voted UKIP in 2015 (13% of the vote) and didn’t get a single MP. Now I find UKIP/Brexit Party positions absolutely abhorrent, nativist and racist, but it doesn’t mean I don’t think they should be denied a voice.

 Before anyone makes comments about this being unethical or undemocratic, that’s nonsense.  Vote swapping effectively almost creates what you would otherwise get with proportional representation. Some votes are still wasted, but many fewer, which is fairer, obviously.  SWAP MY VOTE is definitely now live - see how vote swapping works to make your vote count for more.  General Elections in the UK regularly waste ~70% of votes cast. In 2017 that was *22 million* of us.  Now that doesn't sound very democratic to me, so check out https://www.swapmyvote.uk/  This swapping value applies particularly if you're in a seat with a huge Tory majority (lots of Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Dorset - my mum in her 70s, has asked for my advice on this), and you can actually derive some value from your vote in another seat with a vote swap. Let's say you're a lib dem voter in mid-Sussex, swap with a Labour or Green voter in St Ives, Esher or Lewes. Their (your) vote still counts for nowt in your constituency, but it is at least recorded as a 'vote for labour/green', and if the swappee is a big Remainer, they will see the value in returning another Remain MP their end to get a hung Parliament and another referendum.

The site cleverly links participants through social media or other communications so you can build trust, link and chat with your swappee. So it isn't just swappping with some random you've no idea whether you can trust or not.
 Many of us may have parents who voted to leave but have since changed their minds. There will be people in their 70s and 80s, as we’ve seen on the news in Raab’s constituency for example, who have voted Tory all their lives but won’t tolerate the moral vacuum that’s Johnson, and may well be open to tactical voting or vote swapping. Ask them! Tell them how important their vote might be for their grandchildren’s job prospects and prosperity.

 
PLEASE SHARE the link with all your pals and family. Stick it on Twitter, Next Door (obvs) or your local buy/sell Facebook group. This needs to go large. 10 days to go. Come on folks. We've got this. But you need to ACT
Post Reply
Scottov
Posts: 302
Joined: Dec 2012
Options:
Share this post on:

Re: SWAP MY VOTE is finally LIVE - Tactical voting and vote swapping could give us a Remain Parliament

Postby Scottov » Mon Dec 09, 2019 7:40 am

Of course proportional voting has already been rejected in a recent referendum.

So this is a twofer in being undemocratic!
Post Reply
BrianP
Posts: 29
Joined: Aug 2012
Options:
Share this post on:

Re: SWAP MY VOTE is finally LIVE - Tactical voting and vote swapping could give us a Remain Parliament

Postby BrianP » Mon Dec 09, 2019 3:10 pm

Historically, the LibDem brigade have voted that way out of conviction with an actual election result coming as a bonus. The educated middle-class hover between Labour (virtuous but profligate) and Tory (cold-hearted but sensible). The current choice seems to be between Boris (incompetent and dishonest) and Corbyn (repellent and dishonest). I can't see many traditional Libdems switching to Labour because of Corbyn. Labour voters switching to Libdem (Richmond possibly excepted) will simply split the Remain vote and give the Tories better-than-expected result in London.
Post Reply
Denwand
Posts: 469
Joined: Sep 2013
Options:
Share this post on:

Re: SWAP MY VOTE is finally LIVE - Tactical voting and vote swapping could give us a Remain Parliament

Postby Denwand » Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:29 pm

BrianP wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2019 3:10 pmHistorically, the LibDem brigade have voted that way out of conviction with an actual election result coming as a bonus. The educated middle-class hover between Labour (virtuous but profligate) and Tory (cold-hearted but sensible). The current choice seems to be between Boris (incompetent and dishonest) and Corbyn (repellent and dishonest). I can't see many traditional Libdems switching to Labour because of Corbyn. Labour voters switching to Libdem (Richmond possibly excepted) will simply split the Remain vote and give the Tories better-than-expected result in London.

 
Post Reply

Start a conversation
To create a new post and start a new conversation, please click on the button.