2016 Federal Election: Make your vote count

This weekend we’re heading to the polls, running the gauntlet of volunteers trying to give us flyers (No REALLY, I don’t need that pamphlet, thanks) and putting in our vote for the 2016 federal election. But after a quick lap on social media, I’m concerned that some Australians are planning on wasting their vote on Saturday.

When I was a young girl, growing up in suburban Melbourne, I heard about the Suffragette movement. Hearing that there was a time when women did not have the vote rocked my very little world. Then, a few years go by and I find myself as a teenager in a social studies class where we were taught that there are some parts of the world where no citizens get to vote at all. This didn’t make sense to me. Didn’t everyone live in free country like I did? Didn’t everyone go to a local primary school, get a sausage and fill out some forms?

Obviously it took me a few more years of maturity to comprehend that the world is a very big place with very different rules to live by. But this comprehension didn’t make it alright by me, it just made me angry.

But what makes me even angrier is that, despite freely having the right to vote, some people aren’t interested in it. They say they don’t know enough about it, they say it doesn’t matter anyway or they say politicians are all a bunch of liars.

Well to that I say: learn about it, it does matter and not all of them.

If you’re feeling disheartened by the political climate in our country, that’s fair enough. If you’ve been disappointed in the past, that’s fair enough. And if you’re not sure who to believe anymore that’s fair enough too. (But believe me, I’m always honest 😉 )

I don’t believe you should vote a certain way because your family does. My political leaning swings in the opposite direction to my parents and we have lively (read: loud) discussions about it. But you are under no obligation to tell anyone who you voted for. That question falls under the inappropriate ‘how much money do you make’ kind of category. And you can always lie, not that we condone that sort of behaviour here at The Merry Go Round… but you could.

And I certainly don’t believe in wasting this opportunity with a donkey vote. Really, don’t put in a dud vote… I’ll know, just like Santa.

There’s only one thing to do to climb out of election apathy:

Pick some issues that matter to you at take a look at each stance the party is taking. That’s it. That’s all you have to do.

Women’s rights, healthcare and education are the issues I care about. So I weigh up what each party is offering and make a decision. I know I’m never going to be 100% happy with their policies, but this isn’t about being completely happy, it’s about not being horrifically offended whenever our leader opens their mouth. But there’s every chance that what offends me and what offends you are different, so that’s why we all get one precious vote each.

I implore you not to rely on the smear campaigns advertising that the major parties are using. They are made specifically to emotionally manipulate us. I like to read The Guardian because I feel like it’s more impartial than some other news sources. And all the parties have their policies written in black and white on their websites also (but take this with a tiny grain of salt).

So if you were unsure about your vote this weekend, I beg you, take some time to make an informed decision. You can reward yourself with a sausage in bread and an ‘I Voted’ sticker .

We have the freedom and the right to choose where our vote goes, make the Suffragettes proud.

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