I voted yesterday

and it is something I am told I am required to do. What the law really says is that I must "attend" and "mark" the papers. In other words I must turn up, take the papers handed to me and make some sort of mark on them before folding them up and putting them in the relevant boxes.

Actually mine when into an envelope because I made a "declaration" vote outside my electorate. This was because the electoral boundaries were changed after the last election and I am now in a new electorate.  Getting to the next available early polling station would have meant a long pedal there and back.  Going on polling day would have meant standing in a queue. I am not good at standing in queues. 

This actually annoys me a little because questions do need to be asked how the electoral boundaries get changed. The Electoral Commission is supposed to oversee this being done in a "fair" manner. The reality is that it sometimes leads to changes that are not sensible.  My old electorate and my new one were once divided by a major road. People knew that one side was X electorate and the other side was Y electorate. That has changed. There is a wiggly line that ends at the end of the street I now live in.  I heard one of the candidates trying to patiently explain to someone that no that person could not vote for him. He does not live in the electorate the candidate is standing for even though he has previously "lived in that electorate all his life". Quite possibly he has too. It is a long time since it would have affected that particular person. I know where he lives.

I know enough about early polling stations to know timing is important if you want to avoid a queue and I did avoid any sort of queue. I was in and out very quickly...and I voted. I voted properly. I did not just fill out the ballot papers according to what any party told me to do. I had thought about my choices. I know my first choice of candidate is almost certainly going to lose but in reality she is the better choice. Her only serious rival, another female, will simply do as she is told.  Yes, I know them both by reputation.

I left wondering how many people will actually vote at this election. They will go along and fill out their ballot papers and believe they have voted. The majority of them will "vote" according to the way they have voted all their lives. They will have no idea what the party policies are. "Why bother?" and "Nothing will change" are the way many of them will approach the problem.  It is not voting. It is simply marking boxes and doing it in a "what's in it for me" way. 

Am I feeling concerned about the almost certain result? Yes. This is not how democracy is supposed to work.