johng
Labour
Posts: 4,849 
Member is Online
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Post by johng on Sept 17, 2020 21:13:40 GMT
Definitely regret voting Lib Dem in 2010. It was my first general election.
I have voted for almost every major party and don't regret voting for any of the others.
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pl
Non-Aligned
Posts: 1,664
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Post by pl on Sept 17, 2020 21:36:28 GMT
Not quite regret, but the first time I voted aged 18 it was definitely a case of “business before pleasure”.
A ballot paper with just two candidates - neither of whom I particularly wanted to vote for - was not well received!
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Post by johnloony on Sept 17, 2020 22:50:29 GMT
If I knew Ben Curran was only going to cling on by 41 votes last year, I'd have voted Green and hoped at least another 40 people would also have done. Which election is that referring to? |
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Post by johnloony on Sept 17, 2020 22:57:32 GMT
The only other time I have voted Lib Dem was in the 1992 general election. I only "regret" it in the sense that I regret that there was not a Green candidate; if there had been a Green candidate then I would have voted Green. It was not until years later that it occurred to me that I was the part of the key psephological segment of the voters who were wavering and scared off Kinnock at the latter stages of the campaign, thereby allowing Major to win a majority for the Conservatives.. I did not fully decide between voting Labour and voting Lib Dem until the morning of election day itself. Who won your seat in 1992? Yes that was what appeared to have happened though it might have depressed the Lib dem vote too with soft ones going to the Tories The Conservative Party won Croydon Central by a margin of 9,650 over Labour. The Lib Dems had no chance of winning the seat. The general principle is that in the last few days of the 1992 campaign, voters generally (i.e. a sufficiently large number of swing voters to make a significant difference to the overall result) were getting cold feet about voting for the Labour Party and making Neil Kinnock prime minister, and were switching away from Labour towards the Lib Dems or Conservative (or from the Lib Dems to Conservative (in order to stop Labour)). In my case, my wavering vote drifted from Labour to Lib Dem. People like me were drifting away from Labour in sufficient numbers of marginal constituencies to stop Labour candidates from winning. |
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spqr
Non-Aligned
Posts: 1,905
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Post by spqr on Sept 18, 2020 2:37:38 GMT
I gave the SSP my regional list vote in the 2007 Scottish parliamentary election, because I had grown tired of the McConnell administration and sympathised with those on the receiving end of Tommy Sheridan's (to me, obvious) charlatanry during the News of the World saga. This was before I realised that the party was essentially run by idiots. Even so, I can't say I "regret" it really - in fact, as I've never been daft enough to ever vote Lib Dem, there hasn't been any decision I've made in the polling booth that I would describe in such terms. But it was the one time that I would do things differently if given the chance again.
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Post by syorkssocialist on Sept 18, 2020 2:56:32 GMT
I've only been eligible to vote in three local/national elections (Sheffield City Region Mayoral election 2018, EU Parliament 2019, GE2019) but I have no regrets about any of them and would still vote the same way in each.
If my current self was transported back to 2016 I would not have voted for Corbyn in the Labour leadership contest, but I wouldn't really say I regret it as I felt it was the right decision at the time.
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Post by Defenestrated Fipplebox on Sept 18, 2020 5:54:03 GMT
If I knew Ben Curran was only going to cling on by 41 votes last year, I'd have voted Green and hoped at least another 40 people would also have done. Which election is that referring to? Sheffield Walkley in the local elections when Labour just held on. |
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J.G.Harston
Lib Dem
Leave-voting Brexit-supporting Liberal Democrat
Posts: 14,759
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Post by J.G.Harston on Sept 18, 2020 10:20:32 GMT
If I knew Ben Curran was only going to cling on by 41 votes last year, I'd have voted Green and hoped at least another 40 people would also have done. Which election is that referring to? |
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Richard Allen
Banned
Four time loser in VUKPOTY finals
Posts: 19,052
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Post by Richard Allen on Sept 18, 2020 10:45:11 GMT
Regretting things is an entirely futile form of nostalgia. Whatever you did in the past made sense to you at the time. Live in the present and move on. I mostly agree but when I look at the actions the current government have taken I cannot help but bitterly regret my vote for the Conservative Party at the last general election. |
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msc
Non-Aligned
Posts: 910
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Post by msc on Sept 18, 2020 11:54:32 GMT
In 2005 I was persuaded to vote SNP as "they might win the seat". In fact they finished 3rd behind the Lib Dems, who at the time were a better fit for me. (And indeed, imagine the SNP winning Tom Harris's seat, like that would ever happen...)
Otherwise, none: in 2010 I voted for the only candidate I could after ruling the other votes out, in 2015 I voted for the man best suited to topple our local MP, and in 2017 I voted against the SNP due to the named persons rubbish.
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Post by iainbhx on Sept 18, 2020 13:25:05 GMT
Can't honestly say I really regret any of mine except one in a local election in York, where I voted for a candidate only to find them on my doorstep the next year (albeit representing another candidate) telling me about how "yes, we are sensible here, we don't do things like poofs on the rates", I informed him I was a poof who paid rates and shut the door on him and voted for his Conservative opponent. Later on, long after I left York, he turned out to be a truly appalling human being.
And no, I don't always vote for members of my own party, especially not in Police and Crime Commissioner elections. There are occasionally disadvantages to knowing all the major candidates.
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Post by 🏴☠️ Neath West 🏴☠️ on Sept 18, 2020 17:21:53 GMT
This thread needs a poll: "Which party did you regret voting for?"
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Post by 🏴☠️ Neath West 🏴☠️ on Sept 18, 2020 17:28:25 GMT
Much though I enjoy laughing at the Whigs, my personal regret is the 2009 European Election. I did not rate the lead Conservative candidate, Kay Swinburne, who had enriched herself at the expense of her former employer Deutsche Bank with an extremely disagreeable approach to workplace disagreements, bought some schloss near Ledbury, and just did not seem like a plausible Welsh Conservative candidate. As I couldn't vote for the other Conservative candidates over her, and would not vote UKIP at that stage, I voted for Plaid Cymru in the tactical hope of hurting Labour. I should just have voted for Sir Bufton Tufton (or whatever his name was), the UKIP candidate.
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Post by dizz on Sept 18, 2020 18:05:16 GMT
Who won your seat in 1992? Yes that was what appeared to have happened though it might have depressed the Lib dem vote too with soft ones going to the Tories The Conservative Party won Croydon Central by a margin of 9,650 over Labour. The Lib Dems had no chance of winning the seat. The general principle is that in the last few days of the 1992 campaign, voters generally (i.e. a sufficiently large number of swing voters to make a significant difference to the overall result) were getting cold feet about voting for the Labour Party and making Neil Kinnock prime minister, and were switching away from Labour towards the Lib Dems or Conservative (or from the Lib Dems to Conservative (in order to stop Labour)). In my case, my wavering vote drifted from Labour to Lib Dem. People like me were drifting away from Labour in sufficient numbers of marginal constituencies to stop Labour candidates from winning. |
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Post by MacShimidh on Sept 18, 2020 18:06:07 GMT
In 2005 I was persuaded to vote SNP as "they might win the seat". In fact they finished 3rd behind the Lib Dems, who at the time were a better fit for me. (And indeed, imagine the SNP winning Tom Harris's seat, like that would ever happen...) Otherwise, none: in 2010 I voted for the only candidate I could after ruling the other votes out, in 2015 I voted for the man best suited to topple our local MP, and in 2017 I voted against the SNP due to the named persons rubbish. Were the SNP seriously claiming they could win the seat or was it something you surmised yourself? The SNP have always had a reputation for believing their own hype, but claiming they could win a Glasgow seat at Westminster in 2005 seems brave to say the least (although I suppose they did respectably enough in the Cathcart by-election a few months later). That 2005 result seems like another world now... Lib Dems second and the Nats only twenty votes ahead of the Tories! |
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msc
Non-Aligned
Posts: 910
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Post by msc on Sept 18, 2020 18:25:05 GMT
In 2005 I was persuaded to vote SNP as "they might win the seat". In fact they finished 3rd behind the Lib Dems, who at the time were a better fit for me. (And indeed, imagine the SNP winning Tom Harris's seat, like that would ever happen...) Otherwise, none: in 2010 I voted for the only candidate I could after ruling the other votes out, in 2015 I voted for the man best suited to topple our local MP, and in 2017 I voted against the SNP due to the named persons rubbish. Were the SNP seriously claiming they could win the seat or was it something you surmised yourself? The SNP have always had a reputation for believing their own hype, but claiming they could win a Glasgow seat at Westminster in 2005 seems brave to say the least (although I suppose they did respectably enough in the Cathcart by-election a few months later). That 2005 result seems like another world now... Lib Dems second and the Nats only twenty votes ahead of the Tories!
Mum is neighbours with a now retired SNP councilor so I heard it direct "from the campaign" at the time. I later realised he was in fact 100% excited and convinced of the success of every single campaign he worked on!
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cj
Socialist
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
Posts: 3,285
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Post by cj on Sept 18, 2020 23:53:31 GMT
Not regret really, all ballots cast have been totally inconsequential, there is a far greater array of consequential decisions ahead in the accounting hopper (reminds me of one of my favourite Babylon 5 lines where Ambassador Mollari was asked if he had regrets replied "enough to fill a lifetime"  ).
The closest was for a Labour councillor and cabinet member who to be honest wasn't a complete waste of space, despite their spiteful streak, as after all they did take up the space that could have been occupied by a kipper. They once told me they got involved in politics to see how things worked, they stood down a few years later, so I presume they got the enlightenment they sought.
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Post by Richard Cromwell on Sept 19, 2020 16:21:31 GMT
Luckily my old "beliefs" never lead me to vote for anyone truly wretched. I don't regret my Green votes at the local and European level nor my (continuity) Liberal vote at the GE - even though they were mostly wasted. However, I regret whoever it was I voted for in 2015 (socialist? green, maybe?). I should've voted for the Labour candidate. I feel now, that my aversion to the Labour Party on "principle" grounds was immature.
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peterl
Green
Congratulations President Trump
Posts: 8,473
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Post by peterl on Sept 20, 2020 14:55:48 GMT
As I always vote my conscience and never vote tactically, I am not generally prone to regret how I vote. I suppose I midly regret voting for Martin Underhill for Dorset Police Commissioner, especially the second time in 2016, after he wasted so much money on a merger with Devon and Cornwall that never happened and then hiked the precept. I gave him second preference in 2016, UKIP first, but if I hadn't it would probably have been Labour second, which would have been a token gesture in any event. No other regrets.
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Post by November_Rain on Sept 20, 2020 17:33:01 GMT
I regret a Lib Dem vote in 2006 when I lived in Wyken, Coventry as I knew they had no chance. Should have gone for Labour who would have got rid of the sitting Tory councillor.
I actually regret standing in 2019. I don't want to go into full detail, but we were up against three popular Lib Dem councillors, little to no help and it seemed the CLP didn't think it through. Adding to that, the aftermath where I landed up being "shunned" by most of the CLP and still get shunned today as if I had a deadly disease. Plus I felt I was set-up as the "powers that be" in charge of the CLP aren't very good.
You live and learn eh?
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