26/05/2024
What happens in the scenario that you are registered to vote and you don’t go vote? What happens to your vote?
You will be part of the people who registered to vote and didn’t vote.
The only votes that will be counted will be those of the people who voted.
Let’s say 100 people registered to vote and 51 of them come to vote, then the eligible people who will be counted will be the 51 that actually showed up.
Then let’s say that, of the 51:
28 vote ANC
11 vote DA
12 vote EFF,
Then ANC has won the elections because of:
ANC = 28/51 = 54,90%
EFF = 12/51 = 23,53%
DA = 11/51 = 21,57%
This is why people encourage you, especially the youth to go out in numbers to vote and not vote for the ruling party because your vote can change the weightings.
For example, let’s say all of the 100 people that actually registered actually go and vote and:
- 28 people vote ANC
- 51 people(addition of the registered youth voters who were not voting and this time around went out to vote) vote EFF
- 21 vote DA
Then the EFF wins:
ANC = 28%
EFF = 51%
DA = 21%
The reason why the ANC always wins is because their voters are consistent and actually go out to vote when the time comes. This is why people will always encourage you to go and vote because your extra vote sways the percentage away from that of the ruling party.
This is why people also say the EFF is going to find it hard to win elections because majority of the people they entice do register to vote but they don’t go and vote on the day of elections.
* DISCLAIMER: all of the projections, parties involved in the message are for illustrative purposes only.
