General election 2010: Cif at the polls

Voter dilemmas: can you help?

We've asked Cif readers to get in touch with their voting quandaries. Do you have any advice to help at the ballot box?
  • Jump to comments ()
Ballot box
Do you have any advice that will help our undecided voters make up their mind by polling day? Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

These people have contacted us about their voting quandaries. Can you help? We're particularly keen to hear from people with local knowledge of the constituencies in question. We've numbered them so you can indicate in the thread which voter you particularly want to help.

Voter 1

I live in the Bosworth constituency in Leicestershire. I have always voted Liberal Democrat (since 1987) in parliamentary elections but they have come a poor third in all but one election. I very much want to unseat the sitting Conservative MP so should I vote Labour?

Voter 2

Historically left (anarchist father!). Always Labour voter until last election.

Now cannot vote for Labour ever again, post-Iraq, post-biggest-ever gap between rich and poor, post bending over backwards for the City, post-screwing up education (by absurd notion of choice above all). Shall I go on?

However, local MP is decent and likely to win (Martin Linton, Battersea). Gut feeling that a massive Lib Dem popular vote would be a good thing …

What to do?

Voter 3

My constituency is Sutton and Cheam – hardcore Tory until 1997 when it switched to Lib Dem.

I voted Labour in 1992 (the candidate got about 10% of the vote) and in 1997, 2001 and 2005 voted for the Lib Dem, Paul Burstow, as I felt a Labour vote was wasted.

My quandary is now Nick Clegg says he will buddy up with the Tories. Do I revert to a Labour vote just to make a point, or do I hold my nose and vote Lib Dem praying that Labour don't come third.

All advice gratefully received.

Voter 4

I live in the "new" Buckingham constituency where the Speaker stands. I am effectively disenfranchised; what can I do? Even the "old" constituency was heavily Tory, with David Lidington a very effective MP for his constituents. But at least there was hope … focused on a growing Lib Dem vote. Now even hope is extinguished.

Voter 5

I voted Labour until 1992 when I switched to Lib Dem in Lewes, purely to help oust the Tory MP; thereafter to keep Norman Baker in. Moved to Monmouth in 2004 – then a Labour seat, which was lost in 2005 when for every four Tory votes, Labour got three and Lib Dems one. With the opinion polls as they stand it may even be that the Labour and Lib Dem figures are reversed, but I would hate to have voted Labour and find that the Lib Dems had missed winning by a whisker. It seems that Labour cannot win so I guess I have to vote Lib Dem.

Am I right, or should I say that neither will beat the Tories and make my vote count towards Labour's share that will help Clegg accept a Labour-Lib Dem coalition?

Voter 6

I am a leftwing (not just left-leaning) voter and am in a complete quandary.

I live in a constituency (North East Cambridgeshire) that would elect a parsnip if it had a blue rosette attached. Because of this, the other major parties make very little effort and smaller parties (Green, Respect, TUSC) value their deposits and do not stand.

I am a member of Socialist Worker and Unite Against Fascism and therefore find it extremely difficult to vote Labour. Saying that, our Labour candidate is not a bad chap, and veers a little more to the left than to the Blair/Brown wing of the party.

I will not, not vote as I feel it is an insult to people who fought and died to give us all the mandate.


Voter 7

Brentford and Isleworth: last election Labour 18,329, Conservative 13,918, Lib Dem 10,477. Labour's Ann Keen, one of the expense offenders, is liable to lose many votes but the Lib Dem is far behind! How should I vote to keep out Cameron's Hood Robin party?

Voter 8

I have voted Labour for a long time but want a change. I left the Labour party over much of what they were doing and want to keep the Tories out. In Gravesham we had the following votes in the last election:

Conservative: 19,739 (43.7%)
Labour: 19,085 (42.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 4,851 (10.7%)
Other: 1,504 (3.3%)
Majority: 654 (1.4%)

The percentages nationally do not help my tactical voting.

i. Is a local poll, on the eve of the election, the answer for helping a tactical voter?

ii. Should the Labour, or Lib Dem candidate call for a vote for the other non-Tory party?

iii. To get a fair result, now and in the future, we need proportional representation, but to get that we need a way of choosing an alternative candidate to give the 53% of anti-Tory voters a choice now.

Can anyone help me?

• Please email us with any other dilemmas. Contact with "dilemma" in the subject header

Latest posts

Today's best video

Today in pictures