The Police thing will have been November 2012. Across the country we all had to elect Police and Crime Commissioners who are in charge of the police force for the local area. It's a new idea the Tories have imported from the US and it's not been popular. You certainly weren't alone in not knowing what was going on. There was a lot more election bumf than usual as a result, because they a) had to convince people it was a good idea and b) had to convince people to vote on a random November day. It didn't work very well and turnout was only 15
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Thanks, Emma, that was a very insightful comment, especially the bit about the police elections. I'm still not sure why that's a role that should be decided by popular vote instead of someone being hired based on competencies, but I guess it's okay if the US do it. Huh.
No, trust me, most people in this country also don't think it's a role that should be decided by popular vote. (In fact, originally the Labour Party weren't going to stand any candidates for it because they disagreed with it so strongly.) Bizarrely although candidates campaigned on a party basis, once they were elected they became (allegedly) politically neutral. Very odd.
About a month or two ago, we had city elections here in Sioux Falls. There were a couple of candidates and issues that I had strong opinions on, but when it came to the school board and city council elections, I had no idea who any of those people were or what they stood for (and when it came to the school board, I didn't care). The instructions on the ballot said we had the option to leave those blank, so I did.
I do find it really weird just how much the US electorate are asked to vote on. How can anyone ever seriously be expected to educate themselves about so many different positions and make informed decisions.
Today we have primaries, and I saw a news story online about how some of the polling places had changed locations, but it didn't say which ones. I didn't get anything in the mail about it one way or the other, and I'd like to assume that if something had changed, they would have sent a card in the mail. I'd LIKE to assume that, but we'll just have to see.
(Watch as I check my mail today and there will be a card from the county there...)
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Inexcusably lazy citizenship on my part, I know.
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(Watch as I check my mail today and there will be a card from the county there...)
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