Charlie Stross
I voted for somebody other than the asshole(s) in power:
Yes
88.8%
No
4.5%
Show me the results
6.7%
Poll ended at .
Mar 19 at 9:59pmWeb
Show threadMozMar 19
@cstross as an Australian I also voted for the bastards, and the worse bastards and so on. Preferential voting requires it. But my first preference(s) were for non-bastards.
Show threadDennyMar 19
@cstross In all but one of the elections, local and national, in my entire life.
Show threadilmariMar 19
@cstross I would've if I could've, but I'm too filthy a furriner. I really should do the citizenship dance before it gets too fashy here.
Show threadSimon SapinMar 19
@cstross this question works in so many places of the world!
Show threadAcroamatis 🇨🇦Mar 19

@cstross But I'm in Canada, so our current crop of assholes in power are better than their opponents across the aisle.

Something of a "laceration vs amputation" decision.

Show threadHalla RemptMar 19

@cstross I'm probably a curse. Never, ever in the forty years of my voting history has a party I voted for got in power.

Except for local government. My party is once again number one in Deventer.

Show threadJoe BayesMar 19
@cstross Mostly yes. I voted for a few of the assholes in power, because they were less assholey than the other assholes. I subscribe to the Principle of Least Asshole.
Show threadDougMerritt (log😅 = 💧log😄)Mar 19

@jbayes
That can be a tough call sometimes.

@cstross

Show threadDarcy CasselmanMar 19
@cstross Canadian here. Federally no, provincially, yes. But y'all probably don't care that much about sub-national elections.
Show threadCharlie StrossMar 19
@flyingsquirrel oddly I do (because that mirrors MY voting pattern wrt. UK-wide vs. Scottish elections).
Show threadDarcy CasselmanMar 20
@cstross Well, in that case, federally the assholes in power are the least bad viable option. Here in Ontario, we seem stuck with the brother and professional enabler of a deceased former crack-smoking mayor of Toronto and he remains shockingly popular after two elections despite all the naked corruption and incompetance.
Show threadLed By Gilded FoolsMar 19
@cstross Its an evergreen poll, applicable to any administration.
Show threadVerainMar 19
@cstross Green, then ALP. I think I even voted for a local independent third. She made a very good showing. But my heart belongs to green.
Show threadJumileMar 19

@cstross No. I knew Starmer was going to be an unmitigated shitshow but, given the system, his clown show was the least worst choice.

Though there's a cigarette paper's width dividing their actions from their predecessors.

As *anyone* who paid attention before the election should have known. Lesser of two obvious evils.

Show threadCadbury MooseMar 20

@jumile @cstross

Ditto here, but I wasn't expecting Starmer & Co. to be quite as bad as they've turned out to be. (Last GE was a vote against Galloway's lot, next one will preferably be Green - as long as there's no risk of FĂźhrage or Galloway getting an MP, otherwise I will hold my nose and vote for the TERF as least worst option.)

Show threadCharlie StrossMar 20
@Cadbury_Moose @jumile I have the good fortune to live in Scotland, so a vote for the SNP wasn't wasted—and it was obvious in '24 that the Tories were going to be obliterated (Labour sees the SNP as their main enemy in Scotland, mostly because the SNP are an actual viable centre-left party of government, unlike Labour this century).
Show threadC.H.Mar 19

@cstross

ohhh yes 🌻

Show threadAdam DallianceMar 19
@cstross this is the thing with democracy. If there's three of more parties the assholes win on just over a third of the vote.
Show threadJon_AlperMar 20
@cstross There are two important missing options: “I voted for the candidate everyone knew couldn’t win and thereby enabled the asshole(s) to take power” and “I didn’t vote because they’re all assholes and thereby enabled the asshole(s) to take power.”
Show threadNeil MorfordMar 20
@cstross Fellow Brit here. Voted in every GE since 2001. Only once has my candidate become my MP. I've never voted Tory. My constituency has been non-Tory once in the last hundred years or so. I hope to cast a vote that matters again before I die, but I'm not holding my breath.
Show threadJames KempMar 20

@NJMorf @cstross same. I've lived in three constituencies. Only in my current one did I vote for the MP, I've met him and he seemed a decent chap (former aircraft engineer) and he kept the Tories out.

Often I've spoilt my ballot rather than pick an asshole. I feel it's better to do that than just not turn up. To the point where I wrote a note for my blog just before the 2015 UKGE
https://www.themself.org/2015/04/how-to-properly-spoil-your-vote/

How to Properly Spoil Your Vote - Themself

When you realise that you really cannot commit to any candidate. Don't be disheartened. Do go to the polling station. Deliberately spoil your vote

Themself
Show threadLanda Mar 20

@cstross my hometown is currently led by a coalition of communists and greens.
So technically I did vote for one of them.

Otoh that’s just a local election and on the state and country level I didn’t.

Show threadDuke Thinred IV Mar 20
@cstross Locally, I voted for someone who would actually do something for the community, and not just for their rich friends. Nationally, it's more a case of lesser evil. That the two of them belong to the same party is almost coincidental.