On Thursday 4th May residents in London Colney, St Albans and Harpenden vote for those who will serve us on the County Council for the next four years.

There will be 78 councillors whose job, so the official website tells us, is “to represent the interests of local residents in their area”.

Four years ago just 29% voted in the equivalent election. Less than one-third of us.

The County Council has significant power to affect our lives, but seems distant to most of us compared with district elections which tend to have a turnout of about 40%.

That’s still well short of half.

On 8th June we now have a General Election.

The 2015 turnout was 66%. Just two in every three people.

A Trade Union leader has just been re-elected to his post on a turnout of just 12%.

We have the privilege of living in a democracy where our votes do count – but many of us don’t seem to take the opportunity given to us.

Apathy rules – and so we get the candidates that those who voted have chosen, not the choice of everyone.

Except that the choice of many is that they do not seem to care.

Christians in local churches are being urged to get involved in the General Election.

The Bible tells us to pray for those in political authority – and so to be concerned for national and local government.

Perhaps we need a spot of dictatorship to help us all realise just how fortunate we are.

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here