Interested in Europe

Vote09ireland

Voter Registration Campaign for European Elections 09 is part part of a pan-European campaign that will focus on informing voters at a local level on voting for the European Parliamentary in 2009.

The objective is to make the citizen aware of his/her political preference to make the EU more legitimate to you and voters.

Only by voting in these elections will there be a possibility for citizens to be heard and for them to shape the EU that they want, whatever preference they have.

By talking and engaging ourselves at a grassroots level we can inform citizens why it is important to vote for these elections, have a greater turn-out and make those that represent us to answer our call in making the EU that we want.

An irish group has been set up and wants to hear from interesting people who might like to get involved as organisers. If you wish to join their are several ways to get in touch and join

on Bebo http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MyProfile=Y
on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php? gid=34025391614

email Voteeueire@gmail.com

Also PM Vote09Ireland

Aiden Kelly organiser

turgon

What would being an organizer actually entail??

BTW that Bebo link only works if your signed in as you.

sink

Is it a non partisan initiative?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Vote09ireland

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=8039941492

that should be the Bebo link. the Group is Vote_EU_Eire Or alternatively Aidjk is my bebo page and can be accessed through that

The group is non Partisan we would try to remain a non party affliate. Our objective is to tell the ppl to get out and vote. Give them their options and let them decide

Their are several levels of organiser; Local organisers are responsible for their local area regional organisers are responsible for their region(may be a large area, constitutiency, depending on organisers)

how involved you are is dependant on you personally? What is more important is that you tell people about the vote and tell them why it is important

As for the Lisbon treaty as the Elections will be Nice Based we have to work on that Basis. Personal preferences aside,We are trying to get the vote for the European Elections the referendum is none of our concern

Vote09ireland

this is the mission statement of the Group so hopefully this will answer any queries


This is a non-profit organisation with a mission of organising a campaign
that looks at informing citizens about the EU and how their vote in the
European Elections in June 2009 can make a difference for the EU. We
want to give them the opportunity to make them choose an EU that they
would like see move towards.
That is why we aim to have an ultimate objective of having a 60% turnout
in the European Elections in order to give more democratic legitimacy
to the European Union. In this way the Union and their Members of the
European Parliament will have to be more responsive to the citizens how
they represent as from 2009.
In order to do this, we need to make this campaign as neutral as possible,
respecting each voter’s own choice for the future of Europe – there will

not be any support for a certain political party in order to get as many
people as possible to go and vote – in the 27 Member States of the EU.
Our main strategy will be get organisers at a local, regional and national
level in order to engage local voters and take advantage of all possible
means to engage citizens onto the campaign in order reach out even
further. This will be done through all means possible – internet, town-hall
meetings, personal meetings, students. They will then use these means to
inform citizens on the EU and get them to vote, using our organising
principles of respecting, empowering and including each potential voter.

turgon

Vote09ireland wrote: »

The group is non Partisan we would try to remain a non party affliate...

Sent you an email about it

jhegarty

It's ok , I won't bother voting the first time. I presume we two votes on this one too.

Vote09ireland

jhegarty,
I am as bitter about elections as the next guy (my prefered party aren't in power but this is irrelevant). The fact of the matter is your better off voting no, as many did on lisbon, than not voting.

Vote09ireland

The group is non partisan as far as i'm concerned.
The reasoning is we want ppl to vote for whomever they wish. Getting ppl to vote is the important part not who they vote for. This may have been lost in translation slightly (I Didn't write it they parent group did).

Furious-Dave

Vote09ireland wrote: »

jhegarty,
I am as bitter about elections as the next guy (my prefered party aren't in power but this is irrelevant). The fact of the matter is your better off voting no, as many did on lisbon, than not voting.

I completely disagree. If someoone doesn't know what way to vote or doesn't want to vote they should spoil their vote rather than pick a side.

oscarBravo

Vote09ireland wrote: »

The fact of the matter is your better off voting no, as many did on lisbon, than not voting.

Vote09ireland wrote: »

The group is non partisan as far as i'm concerned.

These points are contradictory. You're advocating a specific position as being better than not voting.

Vote09ireland

so there is a slight contradiction,

First of all the comment that ppl should vote no rather than not voting is with regard to referendums. It was a response to another poster who said that they won't bother vote the first time as their is bound to be a second.
The premise of the comment was that it is better to vote, which the group and I personally try to promote, than not to vote. it was a personal comment and has nothing to do with the group. The fact of the matter is that you can't vote no in an election

The group is non partisan as it doesn't care how you vote but that you vote. What we hope we will provide is a place to ask questions and to get information we are not their to tell people how to vote.
it is every persons perogative as to how the wish to use their vote I merely wanted to say that it's better to vote than not vote as at least your voice is being heard. If they wish to not vote that is their perogative to but we hope that you will vote

Vote09ireland

Furious-Dave wrote: »

I completely disagree. If someoone doesn't know what way to vote or doesn't want to vote they should spoil their vote rather than pick a side.

this is your personal opinion and you are entitled to it.

BlitzKrieg

Vote in the elections...yes I am in full support of this.

I'd much perfer to see people taking more active participation in standard EU politics then doing nothing until a referendum comes around its the primary fault in the EU's relationship with the population at large.

oscarBravo

Vote09ireland wrote: »

First of all the comment that ppl should vote no rather than not voting is with regard to referendums.

A referendum (usually) only has two options: 'yes' or 'no'. By encouraging someone to vote 'no' rather than not voting at all, you're not being non-partisan. Why didn't you suggest they vote 'yes' rather than not vote?

Vote09ireland

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Vote in the elections...yes I am in full support of this.

I'd much perfer to see people taking more active participation in standard EU politics then doing nothing until a referendum comes around its the primary fault in the EU's relationship with the population at large.

That was that thought exactly that saw the parent group set up And that brought me to the group aswell

the population of europe should get involved especially by voting and giving the EU better democratic mandate

voting in the referendum could show that ireland is still pro europe

Oscar....
Non partisan refers to our not supporting of one party over another. Perhaps in my vigour I forgot to explain that fully as non partisan does mean that we shouldn't be asking people to vote no when they want to not vote.

Scofflaw

Vote09ireland wrote: »

That was that thought exactly that saw the parent group set up And that brought me to the group aswell

the population of europe should get involved especially by voting and giving the EU better democratic mandate

voting in the referendum could show that ireland is still pro europe

Oscar....
Non partisan refers to our not supporting of one party over another. Perhaps in my vigour I forgot to explain that fully as non partisan does mean that we shouldn't be asking people to vote no when they want to not vote.

That is not non-partisan, but non-party. The distinction is rather important in the context.

cordially,
Scofflaw

genericgoon

Vote09ireland wrote: »

That was that thought exactly that saw the parent group set up And that brought me to the group aswell

the population of europe should get involved especially by voting and giving the EU better democratic mandate

voting in the referendum could show that ireland is still pro europe

Oscar....
Non partisan refers to our not supporting of one party over another. Perhaps in my vigour I forgot to explain that fully as non partisan does mean that we shouldn't be asking people to vote no when they want to not vote.

If you are a group which has a specific view on the Lisbon Treaty, stop hiding behind a cloak of 'non-partisanship' and just declare yourself a biased party. By saying voting no was right (and since your tongue is so loose on the issue on this forum thus far, I assume this will be a trend found within most of the organisation/movement) , I will assume you are skewing people who take up the vote due to your movement to elect MEPs who are against the Treaty. Declare your intentions openly please. We do not need European Elections infected with the same half truths and meaningless labels that marred the Lisbon Treaty debate.

turgon

genericgoon wrote: »

If you are a group which has a specific view on the Lisbon Treaty, stop hiding behind a cloak of 'non-partisanship' and just declare yourself a biased party.

Lets step back a bit, this is what he said:

Vote09ireland wrote: »

The fact of the matter is your better off voting no, as many did on lisbon, than not voting.

Which is what most, if not all voter registering movements would say: your better off voting than not voting. If we transport ourselves back to English in school we will find this sentence only holds a preference of 'No' above abstinence, but no preference of 'No' above 'Yes'.

Find something else to bitch about

Vote09ireland

genericgoon wrote: »

If you are a group which has a specific view on the Lisbon Treaty, stop hiding behind a cloak of 'non-partisanship' and just declare yourself a biased party. By saying voting no was right (and since your tongue is so loose on the issue on this forum thus far, I assume this will be a trend found within most of the organisation/movement) , I will assume you are skewing people who take up the vote due to your movement to elect MEPs who are against the Treaty. Declare your intentions openly please. We do not need European Elections infected with the same half truths and meaningless labels that marred the Lisbon Treaty debate.

The group has no specific side on the Lisbon, I Don't want to get into a debate about Lisbon (there are other forums for that) and we certainly aren't set up as back door mechanism for encouraging voting yes or no (or even voting) on lisbon. As far as i'm concerned Nice still applies and will work under the rules as they apply. I respect the choice that the irish people made and I wish to move on to the next vote which is the European Elections.

The group was set up, and I stress this, to encourage people to vote HOWEVER THEY PLEASE on the European Elections and that is what I plan to do with it. Lisbon isn't an issue it never was an issue and I hope won't be an issue.

This is the last thing I will say, If you are interested in Europe and the European elections for PARLIAMENT and what to help out let me know.


END

utick

Furious-Dave wrote: »

I completely disagree. If someoone doesn't know what way to vote or doesn't want to vote they should spoil their vote rather than pick a side.

but if you vote no you will always get another chance to vote yes if you change your mind, but if you dont vote you allow the possibility of a bad treaty to be passed

Scofflaw

turgon wrote: »

Lets step back a bit, this is what he said:

Which is what most, if not all voter registering movements would say: your better off voting than not voting. If we transport ourselves back to English in school we will find this sentence only holds a preference of 'No' above abstinence, but no preference of 'No' above 'Yes'.

Find something else to bitch about

It was more this:

Non partisan refers to our not supporting of one party over another. Perhaps in my vigour I forgot to explain that fully as non partisan does mean that we shouldn't be asking people to vote no when they want to not vote.

Not voting is also a valid statement in a referendum (it says - I am not interested, I prefer to let others make the decision). If the only point is to get people to vote (and what is the point of encouraging people to vote for the sake of voting?) then you cannot choose to prioritise voting one way over the other at all without being partisan. Persuading people to vote No when they would have chosen to not vote is a partisan action.

cordially,
Scofflaw

genericgoon

turgon wrote: »

Lets step back a bit, this is what he said:



Which is what most, if not all voter registering movements would say: your better off voting than not voting. If we transport ourselves back to English in school we will find this sentence only holds a preference of 'No' above abstinence, but no preference of 'No' above 'Yes'.

Find something else to bitch about

Perhaps I was too vigorous in my attack on him but I still think the fact remains that he shouldn't be advocating voting no over not voting in Lisbon as this exposes a bias against the Lisbon Treaty, which is going to be a major factor in this years European Elections. You simply can't be publicly biased on that issue and truly claim to be non-partisan.

Perhaps, it was just a mistake from the OP but he should perhaps be more cautious when posting under the banner of this organisation if they wish to remain truly non-partisan. However, educating people and trying to garner awareness for the European elections seems like a good thing, although I hope the organisation proposes people make an informed vote and not just voting for the sake of voting.

turgon

Scofflaw wrote: »

Not voting is also a valid statement in a referendum

True, but how many non-voters abstain because of this? 1%? 0.01%?

Scofflaw

turgon wrote: »

Not voting is also a valid statement in a referendum

True, but how many non-voters abstain because of this? 1%? 0.01%?

The results of the post-referendum Flash Eurobarometer - reasons for not voting:

• 52% of non-voters said they felt they did not fully understand the issues
• 45% said they were too busy
• 42% that they were not informed about the issues at stake
• 38% said they had more important things to do
• 37% said they were not informed about the content of the Treaty
• 34% said the political campaigns around the Treaty 'turned them off'
• 31% said they were 'not interested in politics'
• 30% said they believed voting in this referendum would not change anything
• 24% said they were not interested in European affairs

Obviously, the reasons are not exclusive. Most of those I would regard as valid reasons for not voting, or, rather, as a valid comment on the referendum delivered by way of abstention.

cordially,
Scofflaw