Maticmaker
Full Member
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2018
- Messages
- 4,698
I don't know exactly, but even 5-10% on a turnout of 65% of a 48M registered voter electorate in the UK (2019 figures), is still in the region of 3M+ votes unfairly treated or ignored, or not cast at all.Oh yeah well you're spot on, the US and UK electoral systems are very much set up to disadvantage the less unscrupulous parties but what does that actually result in in terms of the vote (counted fairly)? Maybe 5-10% at most? In countries where you get shot in the head by police stationed outside the polling station it's quite a different level of impossible to dislodge the establishment party.
Of course physical reprisals (or the threat of) are more obvious and more effective, either in debarring someone from voting, or getting them to vote in a particular way. The point is that voting systems (all over the world) and therefore voters rights, can and are 'violated' sometimes obviously, sometimes succinctly, but in all cases they make a difference to those who either through manipulation of the rules are prevented from voting, or coerced into voting a particular way, or intimidated into not voting.
If you are one of the 3M+ voters (10%)whose vote has been subject to manipulation then your rights have been violated, just as much as if someone had put a gun to your head. In some ways its more insidious because in many cases you don't know that your vote has been violated, at least when threatened physically you know your rights have been denied... as well as probably experiencing an unexpected bowel movement!