Dear All, Today, Thursday 5 May, is polling day. It’s a once in a generation opportunity to decide whether or not to reform the way our MPs are elected. There are also crucial local elections across most of England, which could have a big effect on local services in your area.
A couple of months ago, 38 Degrees members voted that we should do all we can to make sure everyone remembers to use their vote. After 10pm tomorrow, it will be too late! There are hundreds of thousands of us involved in 38 Degrees. If we all work together to spread the word, we can remind millions of people to use their vote. So, please can you forward this e-mail to all your friends?
If you use Facebook, you can also post a status reminder: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/facebook-vote-reminder
If you use Twitter, you can tweet a reminder here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/twitter-vote-reminder
Lots of us are still deciding how to vote in the referendum. 38 Degrees members have drawn up a summary of the positive arguments put forward by each of the two campaigns:
You might find these articles by the BBC helpful: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/13112302 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11243595
Or you could have a look at what the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns for the referendum have to say:
Yes Campaign: http://www.yestofairervotes.org/
No Campaign: http://www.no2av.org/
Here’s what a few 38 Degrees members have said about the referendum:
Stuart is voting yes: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people requires the involvement of the people and the conviction of the people that their involvement counts, whoever they support. AV is a small step in the right direction in bringing power out of the boardrooms and down to our level. It isn’t the whole journey, but it is a first step.”
Cathy is voting no: “Either go whole hog proportional, or keep it as it is rather than spending resources on a system that is pretty much as good as, if not only marginally better or worse than, the status quo.”
Lauren is voting yes: “If George Osborne, the BNP, the Murdoch Empire, and David Blunkett all want me to vote no to AV, then I’m going to vote yes!”
Joe is voting no: “AV isn’t really any more democratic though. In a way it’s worse because in many cases some votes are worth more than others because you’re mixing first preference votes with second preference votes.”
Grant is voting yes: “Living in Scotland I have found AV/STV to be an opportunity to change our voting system for the better so we are not stuck with same old parties winning the vote.”
Jon is voting no: “I should be a supporter of AV because I support UKIP / English Democrats or ANY civilised bunch who will get us out of Europe. BUT it’s no good getting us out of Europe if we are left with a bunch of ‘all things to all men’ apparachnikim at home.” It could be decades before we get another chance to vote on reforming the voting system, particularly if there is a No vote. So lets make sure everyone has a chance to have their say! Please forward this email to your friends and remind them to vote. If you use Facebook, you can post a status reminder here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/facebook-vote-reminder If you use Twitter, you can tweet a reminder here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/twitter-vote-reminder
Thanks for being involved,
David, Hannah, Johnny, Cian, Becky and the 38 Degrees team
PS If you’ve asked for a postal vote but haven’t managed to get round to posting it, you can still take your vote in person to your local polling station before 10pm, and it will still be counted. You can read more here: http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/faq/voting_by_post.aspx.
PPS Remember you don’t need your polling card to vote, it is for information only. If you have other questions about voting (like how to find your polling station) there’s simple advice on how to vote here: http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/how_do_i_vote.aspx.
