It is hardly surprising that there has been a huge reduction in voting by people in rented accommodation, excluded and vulnerable groups, and students (Turnout inequality in UK elections close to tipping point, report warns, 1 January). The Tories introduced voter ID in the face of evidence that voter fraud in the UK is rare. This was a blatant attempt to undermine the basic human right in a democracy: that everyone has the opportunity to vote even if it is just once in every five years.
Our politics always fails to deliver for the people who have the least stake in our society and our electoral system continues to deliver disproportionate outcomes, never more so than in 2024. The Tories and Labour are financed by big money and corporate interests that have no interest in the voices of marginalised people.
Membership of those established political parties is ageing and in constant decline, unrepresentative of the diversity and plurality of the population, and lacking the vitality to go out and engage – between elections – with people across the country. In addition, local newspapers are dying, employ fewer journalists and often fail to report on local politics or engage people’s interest in civic matters.
I’m 70 and after a lifetime of voting, I’m not sure I’ll bother any longer. Our democracy is broken and I fear the alternative.
Paul Goodman
Loughborough, Leicestershire
• Your article seems oblivious to the notion that people who fail to vote may do so because governments have taken them for granted and their policies have appeared to only benefit the wealthy, privileged and entitled. Policies since the financial crash have very much benefited asset holders. I cannot remember when there were some that benefited renters or indeed those who wish to get on the housing ladder without assistance from their parents.
I would suggest that the disillusionment with politics and politicians could be more of a cause of the drop in voter turnout than the voting system. A move to proportional representation may improve turnout; a first-past-the-post system results in prime ministerial dictatorship, which is also a disincentive to vote.
Arthur Stansfield
Wickham Market, Suffolk
• With low election turnouts, one need look no further than the idiotic voting criteria introduced by the Boris Johnson government. Students – many of whom were in rented accommodation or living away from their home, had to go through hoops online to be eligible. Confusion reigned, as I know to my cost – I had a proxy vote for my daughter and had to explain patiently to the clerk at her polling station that my numerous documents were admissible.
Why bother to vote when you are not sure if you are eligible or you suspect you will be turned away if you turn up?
Carol Hedges
Harpenden, Hertfordshire
• I fail to see how increasing the size of the electorate to include 16- and 17-year-olds is going to boost voter turnout. I would think that adding a group who are just as likely to be influenced by social media would have the opposite effect. Perhaps only allowing candidates living in a constituency for, say, four years or since the last election, whichever is the longer, would increase local interest and thus may improve the turnout.
Martin Smith
Guildford, Surrey
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
