Vote - even if you don't know why

4:26pm Thursday 1st May 2008

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I'M off to Dobbies later for the local election lucky dip.

Why I'll be voting I don't know. Probably guilt.

Years of being told that people died and women burned their bras - presumably they took them off first - so I could vote takes its toll.

So I will still be reading through the list of candidates and picking a box, any box.

I've no idea whether I'm choosing the party or person who'll do the best job, and neither do the vast majority of the one in three of us who still bother to vote.

Choosing a local councillor is a bit like picking a horse in the Grand National.

A few make a shrewd choice based on knowledge, while the majority use tried and tested techniques that have absolutely nothing to do with politics.

One is to see if any of your neighbours are running. If they are, and they say hello when they pass you in the street, you'll probably pick them.

If you think their political prominence has given them ideas above their station, the temptation to put your cross next to their bitterest rival will probably be too great to resist.

Another tip is to check out the names to see if there are any that you like, especially any that make you laugh. How else do you think Lembit Opik, Eric Pickles and Ed Balls got to be MPs?

A more common trick is to pick the same party that your family has voted for since your great grandad was either lord of the manor or a big union man. Of course, that's got loads of relevance to whether your kid's football pitch ever gets mowed.

You might as well make your choice on whether you prefer the colours red, blue or yellow, or, failing that, close your eyes and stick a pin in the ballot paper.

But, hey, at least you'll be exercising your precious democratic right to vote, which is more than the apathetic other two thirds of the adult population can say.

The fact that you won't have a clue what you're voting for is beside the point.

What the ignorant majority, of whom I'm a member, should do is learn as much as we can about local government so we can come to an informed and educated decision.

Only then would we really be honouring our ancestors who died and burned their bras so that we could vote.

The problem is . . . we just can't be bothered.