Better to have a small turnout of informed voters

I neither voted nor accepted the last States’ invite to go onto the new electoral register. In the former case, I wished to protest about the fact that I did not think that the voting system was compatible with the new machinery of government. Events which have unfolded since I think are proving that I was right.

In the latter case I chose not to go onto the new register because it seems to me that every time Guernsey has an election, the old register is scrapped and we have to go onto a new one which asks for more details than the one before. I am not alone in my view of the dangers of a global surveillance society and I can easily envisage a scenario where electoral rolls are used by ‘Global Big Brother’ in that regard. Some regard that as a paranoid view, but whether they are right or I am right does not matter. I have the right to be paranoid or, the way I see it, take measures I see fit to protect myself.

While I agree that apathy towards politics and an assumption that democracy does not have to be fought for on a daily basis is a problem and is dangerous, low election turnouts are not the problem. In fact a high turnout could turn the election into a complete lottery. It’s bad enough as it is that many members of the electorate only take an interest in politics in the six weeks prior to an election. When I ran, I heard some pretty stupid reasons why my competitors and I were or were not voted for. If someone has to be forced to vote it’s unlikely he’ll have taken much of an interest in politics during the four-year build-up. So the vote of voter X for candidate A on the grounds that (s)he supports ABC United may offset the vote of voter Y for candidate B who voter Y thought had a decent fiscal policy.

‘Forced voting’ is a bit like forcing kids to play football. If a kid isn’t interested he’ll wreck the game for everyone else. Have you ever tried playing an offside trap with a kid in the team who bends down to look at a bee in a flower deep in his own half when the rest of his team is upfield?

Like so many other things, it’s quality not quantity which counts. Better to have a small turnout of informed voters than a large turnout of uninformed ones.

I agree with Henry Lancaster’s observation. The thought that a worst-ever government can be the product of a worst-ever electorate never seems to emerge.

MATT WATERMAN,

Flat 2,

3, Burnt Lane,

St Peter Port, GY1 1HL.