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Hi there,

I'm completely lost when it comes to the local elections.  Do you know where I can look for advice one what each candidate has to offer local Beare Green (Surrey) residents?

Thanks.

--rob (Beare Green resident)

Welcome to the Forum Rob
I can tell you we are all confused. I believe this is happening because candidates do not spend enough time putting their message across.
We are going to e-mail your local council and organisations to post something tomorrow so watch this space over next few days. If they are worth voting for they should use this opportunity and publish information on their candidates and programmes here 
Cheers

Hi there, 

As a first time voter (18 years old), I am perhaps more lost than all of you combined!!
First of all, maybe because of my age.. I dont really follow these things very closely, so that doesn't help right from the start...

But despite my own ignorance to politics, I still feel like a lot more could be done to help people like me. After all, if these people want our votes so badly, shouldn't it be up to them to get up and do some convincing!? So far the information available to me (as an inexperienced voter) is next to none... I've only recieved one leaflet about one party. 

I know some people might argue that if i was interested in voting and politics then I would go digging around myself for information.. but who has time for that? I have better things to do with my time. However, IF these parties used community driven websites such as this one to get their message accross to the younger generation then maybe I, along with thousands of other young (and old) people, might listen!!

I am so lucky to listen to such a manifesto of our young generation. You absolutely correct people like myself do not pay a lot of attention to the modern broadcasting channels like this one and this is perhaps the reason why we have such a low penetration among young people. Let me tell you couple of things first:
- About elections
These June 2009 elections are regional/local elections. You supposed to vote here for representatives of your local community in your local council/government and representative of your region (ie. Surrey) in European parliament in Brussels.
There will be another elections later this year  these are called General Elections. The General Elections you are voting for your Representatives in House of Commons.

Hello. My name is John Doran I am the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Transport on Surrey County Council. I can really understand people's frustration with the system currently. It has been broken for years but more on that later. For now I will put up basic stuff to help you know what is going on. Surrey Lib Dems have a website and this link will take you to the manifesto for this election. If you go on to the main website you will find all sorts of links to see who our candidates are, what we have done, will do, and links to local parties. I have my own website here .

Rob In Beare Green you are in the Surrey Rural Division currently represented by a Tory, Helyn Clack. This is a link to Mole Valley Lib Dem Candidates and you can see that your Lib Dem candidate is Iain Murdoch.

Our manifesto for the European elections is here and this the website of Sharon Bowles one of your current Lib Dem MEPs who is standing again. The Euros are a very poor system of proportional representation. You vote for a party. Each party has a list of candidates. And depending on how many votes each party gets the people at the top of the list get elected. There are 10 MEPs for the South East Region.

That's all for now as I have to go canvassing but I promise like Arnie I will be back!

John, that's great. Thank you. I found your post really useful! If only more people would take this online discussion approach!  For me at least, websites like this are my only interaction with people like you so its great to know i can get all the facts straight. Besdies, im sure it must save you time and money as well. Thanks again, I'm looking forward to your next post.

Hi tory

Thanks for clearing up the elections schedule - that's a great help. I assume voting for both Regional and Local elections take place at the same time and the same place?

Hi John,

Thanks for speaking out on this forum - good to see the LD's speaking out. I've received some postal info from Iain, but I still don't see his connection with the younger generation - perhaps our area has a higher mature population?

As a side note, I cannot say with any certainty what our current local rep has done for BG? There might very well be support, but it's not evident at all - in fact I wonder if any local serving councilor - whether LD, Lab or Tory - can show their affect on the community?

Cheers and happy voting,

-- Rob (a Beare Green resident)

Glad to be of service.  A few points

• The age thing is really difficult. Because of the nature of the job it tends to be done by retired or semi-retired people. I am one of the youngest and I am 54 next week! With notable exceptions the Tories tend to be older and Lib Dems younger. We are hopeful in Woking that our youngest candidate Will Forster, who is in his early 20s will be elected for Woking South.
  
• In general the older you are the more likely you are to vote so unfortunately the parties do address the issues of older people first, however we Lib Dems are very concerned about the lack of youth facilities in the County, poor public transport, and the por environmental credentials of the Council.
  
• We (all parties) need younger people to get involved. I can tell you that you will be enthusiastically welcomed by any party. Just join up, or ask for a chat with a local member.
  
• Just to be clear on the tiers of government there are 4 or 5 in Surrey
  

• Parish councils in the more rural areas have very limited power and money but do put pressure on local Borough and County Councils not to forget places like Beare Green.
  
• There are 11 Borough or District Councils in Surrey, based on towns e.g. Guildford, Woking or wider rural areas, e.g. Mole Valley, Tandridge. These councils are responsible for rubbish collection, parking and planning. In most Districts the election are every 4 years the next lot in 2011. In some like Woking, A third of the council is up for election every year except years like this one where there are County elections.
  
• Surrey County Council manages Social care, Waste Disposal, Highways, Buses amongst many other things and accounts for almost 90% of your Council Tax. All 80 members are up for re-election on Thursday. More info here.
  
• Parliament. The date for the election is in the hands of the PM but the latest it can be is June 2010.
  
• Europe. The elections for the European Parliament are also on Thursday but won't be counted until Sunday as no results can be published until Sunday evening when polls close across Europe. They happen every 5 years. In Surrey we are in the South East region running from Dover to Oxford and elect 10 MEPs using party list system of Proportional Representation. The way the system works a party would need to get about 7% of the vote to elect an MEP.
  

Any more questions ask away.

Hey guys,
I am also a first time voter. I totally agree with aj999 and have to say I would love some more information. What worried me is that some of my friends intend to vote - but they hadn't actually taken the time to find out what or who for - or their reasoning was... irrational! I personally wouldn't vote if I was completely ignorant to the matter - otherwise voting would become a big lucky dip!

So far I have only had a conservative leaflet through my door - which I did take the time to read and analyse
Thank you for your links John - I am reading now! It is nice to see some proactivity!

Posted By johndoran on 30th May 09 at 10:17am

 

Hello. My name is John Doran I am the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Transport on Surrey County Council. I can really understand people's frustration with the system currently. It has been broken for years but more on that later. For now I will put up basic stuff to help you know what is going on. Surrey Lib Dems have a website and this link will take you to the manifesto for this election. If you go on to the main website you will find all sorts of links to see who our candidates are, what we have done, will do, and links to local parties. I have my own website here .

Rob In Beare Green you are in the Surrey Rural Division currently represented by a Tory, Helyn Clack. This is a link to Mole Valley Lib Dem Candidates and you can see that your Lib Dem candidate is Iain Murdoch.

Our manifesto for the European elections is here and this the website of Sharon Bowles one of your current Lib Dem MEPs who is standing again. The Euros are a very poor system of proportional representation. You vote for a party. Each party has a list of candidates. And depending on how many votes each party gets the people at the top of the list get elected. There are 10 MEPs for the South East Region.

That's all for now as I have to go canvassing but I promise like Arnie I will be back!

Yes for Sharon is all I can say.

Pass on my congratulations.