The Weird And Wonderful World Of Democracy
THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WORLD OF DEMOCRACY
When you rock up at the community centre to cast your vote in the Senedd Cymru elections, you might come across people exercising their right to vote for the very first time. Not everyone welcomed the idea of extending the vote to 16 year olds, but the Welsh Government hope that this move will encourage young people to engage with the political process. An estimated 33,000 foreign nationals can now also take part provided they meet certain legal and residency requirements. Our politicians of course, will be looking to attract voters both old and new. All told they will spend more than £1 million, encouraging us to turn out and especially to vote for them.
Things have moved on quite a bit since democracy first got going in 5th century Athens, when women, slaves and foreigners were excluded. We took some time to catch on to the idea of democracy. Until the Reform Act of 1832 certain ‘rotten boroughs’ in the pockets of rich landowners, elected two Members of Parliament even though there were few or even no actual voters. Dunwich in Suffolk, which as a result of coastal erosion had almost fallen into the sea and Old Sarum in Wiltshire, which consisted of two or three houses, were classic examples. This situation was even more absurd when you consider that until 1832 new industrial towns like Manchester with a population of 60,000, did not have a single MP.
In the rare event there was a properly contested election those who could afford to stand came up with some cunning plans to make sure voters turned up and voted for them and it wasn’t just in Britain. In 1758, George Washington, then a young candidate for the Virginia House of Burgesses, bought a huge round of drinks on Election Day. Washington spent his entire campaign budget — £50 — on 160 gallons of liquor served to 391 voters. The custom of buying votes with booze was perhaps not surprisingly a British tradition imported to the American colonies. In Wales we had one of the finest examples. A celebrated contest took place in Carmarthenshire in 1802 between James Hamlyn Williams and William Paxton. The election was said to have cost Paxton a total of £15,000. This included 11,070 breakfasts, 36,901 dinners, 25,275 gallons of ale, 11,068 bottles of spirits, 8,879 bottles of porter, 460 of sherry, 509 of cider and gallons of milk punch. The contest became known as ‘Lecsiwn Fawr’ (the Great Election). In spite of these efforts, Paxton was defeated and spent two years settling his debts! Things are a bit different today and in some US states such as Utah, buying any alcoholic beverages on the day of the election is actually prohibited. Indiana recently abolished this rule, but they have their own interesting take on elections where the sheriff is called to haul you out of the voting booth if you take too long – reckoned to be a maximum of three minutes.
A record $14 million was spent by the candidates during the 2020 US presidential election campaign. In the UK the spending limit for each candidate standing for election as an MP is £8,700 plus 6p per registered parliamentary elector. The current Senedd Cymru elections will cost our politicians a pretty penny. In 2016 even the Monster Raving Loony Party spent £8,808! This may not have gone down well if it was in Ohio where they have a clause that prohibits idiots from voting — no, really. It reads, “No idiot, or insane person, shall be entitled to the privileges of an elector.” Some US voters recently went so far as to suggest that this clause should apply to presidential elections as well!