So I went to do my Civic Duty and voted (AGAIN) I swear I seem to be voting a LOT at the minute.

So I packed my pack with provisions, emergency supplies, spare ammunition. Grabbed the shotgun & Katana and set off on the trek up into the wilds of the mountains, braving the elements and inbred locals to reach the Hut where I have to vote.

WO: “What? You don’t believe me? let me recount my route from a previous post”

If I leave my house, and turn left, its a one minute drive through civilisation to the nearest polling station. Only I am not allowed to vote there, Oh no, I must use a different one. To get to the one I use you have to turn right out of my house and drive away from civilisation. after about ten minutes you turn onto a small back road and head towards the mountains. Fifteen minutes later you leave that road, for a smaller, less used track and head even deeper into the wilderness of the mountains. Eventually you will arrive at a small shack on the side of the track, and its there I have to go to vote.

Seriously, If I did not have a four wheel drive sturdy vehicle, and a house full of lethal weapons to choose from, I don’t think I would ever vote.

So I arrived at the Hut and went in to Vote on the YES/NO to AV vote that I knew about. I walked slowly up to the two very strange looking people sat behind an old rickety table, my right hand absently hovering mere inches away from the concealed blade I’d draw at the first sound of Banjo music. I handed over my Voting slip and one of the men started handing me several voting forms, while the other made a note in his book. Turns out they has sneaked a couple of election’s in with the AV referendum. And with some great choices for who to govern us, BNP, Christian Party? (I thought they were a religion, but Hey instead of having views on the economy, immigration, Health Care they do state they are for the Ten Commandments). So I voted and left.

OK, for those of you Readers who live in countries where you left the 18th century and are now living happily in the 21st I should explain how our voting works. You get given a piece of paper, you walk over to a table where a pencil is taped to a piece of string to prevent theft. You put an X in the appropriate box, then return your paper to where you received it, and basically drop it through a letterbox into a glorified bucket. Yes, in this age of computers, touch-screen terminals, and easy technology we in the UK use pencils, those tamper proof voting system that is super secure unless the person wanting to rig the ballot has the cutting edge tools of an eraser and another pencil. Am I the only one who thinks this is a slow, silly, insecure voting system? Also Humans counting thousands of votes? Its way to easy for mistakes to happen. We’re living in the future people, lets try and act like we are. Now where’s my flying car I was promised?

What I am curious about, is how many people actually believe the urban legend that our votes are anonymous, and that big brother does not know what or who we vote for? When I was too young to vote I’d often hear people talking about how voting is anonymous and all that stuff. I found this odd as the magazines and books I read had other facts in that were contra to popular belief. I remember when I was sixteen I read in a biker magazine how if you voted for one of the extreme parties that MI5 would start a file on you. I remember conversations with people when they assured me voting is private and confidential. OK, so if its confidential why when I’m given my voting paper the number written in the top corner of the sheet is marked in a book next to my voting number? So after counting the votes you could pick up the pile of votes for say “The Monster Raving Loony Party” or “The Green Party” or “The BNP” and look up the names of all the people who voted for them. In what way is this anonymous? or is this anonymous in the same way a pencil mark on a bit of paper is secure?

Anyway.

• Civic Duty – Done
• Trip into the Hills – Done & Survived
• Blog post – Done with extra Ranting

Now we wait for the results.