AS -
I am talking about participating in voting.Surely voter participation is measured by the % of eligible voters who vote?
You seem to have expanded this to talking about participation in politics.
Voting, in itself, in an election is participation. I think we will just have to disagree on this as I can't see how you have to validate your vote in other ways.
If to 'participate' you also have to do the things you mention, then how many of the people who vote properly are worthy of the label? Do you really expect every voter to be actively involved in lobbying , leafleting or 'pushing' people to read your blog ( although I would like to see how you do that last one) etc etc.
While all of that is to be encouraged, NOTA is just a simple suggestion to elimate the excuse of 'they are all the same' or 'there is no point voting' etc . It also would help to stop the likes of that Brand chap to encourage further the idea that opting out of the democratic process is as valid as opting in. (plus the other reasons but done already)
It may be that then we would get more people actively lobbying, leafleting, asking the questions as a result and every election result would be more 'valid' as a result without the sniping from the sidelines based on imaginary stay aways and tehir imaginary motives.
I understand quite well how our system works, which is why I am discussing making a small change to the ballot paper. Where have I given you the impression that I am ignoring the way the current process (of General Election FPP) works?
There is nothing convoluted in it, it's a very simple concept in a similar way that compulsory voting is a simple concept.
Is it that hard to see the consisitency of affecting 'nothing' in one area while at the same time affecting 'something' in another?
Is it really hard to see that it can affect voter turnout positively without necessarily affecting who is elected?
ie you can affect an election without affecting who is elected in a number of ways (such as mobile polling staions or free public transport to polling station)
To make your argument easier for me to understand please bear with me
1. What harmful effect would NOTA have?
2. Is there a better (and/or cheaper?) way to encourage voting within our current FPP format
That might help me change my mind more than the tone of some previous posts.