Votes For Prisoners
Some interesting statistics released to Parliament yesterday (no, honestly!). If the ECHR gets its way, and it seems that the Government is indeed going to roll over and play dead, 28,770 prisoners who are serving a sentence of less than four years will now get the vote.
That number includes a splendid tally of 1,742 sex offenders, 2,484 robbers, 4,144 burglars, 3,484 thieves, 4,306 drug offenders, 1,060 fraudsters,and over 5,000 other random offenders.
Which is nice.
Malta, for example, comply with this nonsense with a sentence limit of one year and nobody bats an eyelid there, but it’s long been LibDem policy to give the vote to the dregs of society so there you go. A Coalition-preserving triumph.
What’s particularly entertaining to watch is the Labour Party’s attempts to get good canvassing teams installed inside prisons across the country before this law comes in: Illsley and Chaytor so far; but many many more to follow.
Hi ASE,
It really doesn’t matter whether they get prisoners to vote or not. Guaranteed they’ll all vote Labour, but then, it doesn’t really matter because all political parties are pushing the same agenda I’m afraid to say.
We all know that democracy is merely giving people the illusion that they have choice and we all know that prime ministers are chosen long before general elections, on how good ‘yes’ men ‘without asking any questions’ they are.
However the reason why they’re giving prisoners the vote is not because they don’t have enough voters (remember all the immigrants who’ve come here under NuLabour) but because they want the general public to feel totally helpless to life – you know the public will keep voting in political parties who fall back on pre-election promises. And yet this will continue as long as people continue supporting them. I used to use the argument that how can you have a say on politics if you don’t vote? I have changed my attitude entirely due to the simple fact that I realise that politics today means absolutely fuck all as to how the country is run, or should I say how the people want it to be run.
And today’s by-election in Oldham will demonstrate exactly what you mean. Plenty of heat, light and media circus but actual turnout will be though the floor because everyone is clear that nothing will change as a result of it.
Turnout is rarely very high in open elections around the world except when voting is compulsory because so often only the colour of the rosette separates the ‘candidates’ and their identikit ideas. And there never is a ‘none of the above’ option so you can positively abstain in protest. Adding an extra category of people to the voting pool, especially people with grudges, is a great way to artificially inflate the turnout figures. But ultimately nothing more than window-dressing.
Will p[risoners vote in their ‘own’ constituencies or that where their prison is located? If the later those few hundred votes might well determine the outcome.
In any event lots of work for gaolhouse lawyers complaining about loss of voting rights because they were in transit at the time &etc.
It’s in the place they were last registered to vote, apparently. But even so, quite a few constituencies are decided by a handful of votes so it could still make a real difference.
And yes, the whole thing as been and will be a licence for lawyers to print money. Much like everything else nowadays.
Let’s make it really simple. If they can get to their polling station let ’em vote. If they can’t, tough shit. That way the ones who are considered to be sufficiently low risk that they can be let out on day release and are close enough to where they vote to get there can carry on the pretence of, ah, I mean the participation in democracy, but the real bastards can’t. Simples.