Opinion: Don't vote? Don't complain

Opinion: Don't complain about the Government if you're not going to vote.

With less than two months until the general election, it is great to see more than 90 per cent of Rotorua's eligible voters have enrolled.

A story in Saturday's paper showed 55,702 of the 61,560 eligible people in our district are enrolled, ready for September 23.

As at June 30, 43,370 were on the general roll and 12,332 were on the Maori roll.

In the 35-plus age groups more than 90 per cent have enrolled so far, while in the 18 to 24 age group just 73 per cent have enrolled.

Making sure you're enrolled is step one, but the most important part is still to come - turning those enrolments into votes.

At the 2014 election the number of people enrolled on the general roll in the Rotorua electorate was 43,394, with a 78 per cent voter turn out. The number of those enrolled in the Waiariki ​electorate was 35,115, with a 64.7 per cent voter turn out.

Those figures are okay, but they could be a lot better.

It's easy to take democracy for granted, especially when you've never known any different.

It's easy to think your vote won't matter or promise to vote next time around.

But living in a democratic society is a privilege and it is our civic duty to participate in the democratic processes.

Many people in this world would love to have this privilege, but instead they have regimes forced upon them, with no say, no rights and no power to change it.

I don't want to hear people complaining about the Government for the next three years, only to find out they didn't bother ticking a box.

You want change, vote. You like the way things are going, vote.

Either way, have your say - vote.