Report to the People
The Importance of Democracy
Well it's nearly all over.
In a matter of days the posters will come down and you will be free to do your Saturday morning shopping without fear of being accosted by politicians.
In fact, it is actually Polling Day today. Indeed, it's been Polling Day since last Wednesday. Throughout the country, around two million postal votes are being cast. This is four times the figure in the last General Election and is largely down to a recent change in the rules which allows anyone to have one.
The old rules tightly controlled when a postal vote could be granted - clearly discriminating against the elderly, shift workers, the sick and those with family and other commitments.
There is no doubt that work is being done to make it easier to vote. Until earlier this year, the Electoral Register was only updated annually. Not much use for college and university students who live in different places during term-time and holidays. A "Rolling Roll", which is updated every month, has therefore been introduced.
I have, though, mixed feelings about this. On the one hand it is the responsibility of the Government to make sure that as many people as possible have their say. But on the other, I wonder whether Governments should be forced to entice citizens to exercise their hard won right.
Women had to fight long and hard for their votes. And Greenock lost many young men on Europe's battlefields as they fought to defeat fascism and secure our democracy and freedom.
Of course the campaign for democracy is not just a history lesson. It was only in 1994 that the first democratic elections were held in South Africa. Indeed, when we think back to those scenes of thousands of black South Africans queuing in the blistering heat, determined to cast a vote which so many had fought and died for, it puts the trendy sneering about voting and elections being just an inconvenience in context.
And the struggle goes on. Throughout the world today people are being intimidated, imprisoned, tortured and even killed for a right we take for granted.
So I would urge you to go out and vote on Thursday - regardless of where your political allegiances lie. Not just for the candidates, not just for the high ideals of democracy and universal suffrage, but for the postmen, the council officials, the tellers and all the others who contribute so much to our democratic process.
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