Think your vote doesn’t count? Think again

It often falls to me to persuade people that voting matters. At times I also have to convince that their vote can change things. Of course, there are wards in Southend-on-Sea where nothing short of a political earthquake will change the status quo, although these are diminishing in number.

Increasingly, owing to rise in the number of candidates standing as well as a desire for change, we are seeing contests where the gap between success and failure is shrinking. In these places every vote does count – the ‘nothing changes around here’ argument is provably untrue.

In the 2012 election seven wards had majorities of less than a hundred. In four the majorities were less than sixty – thirty voters switching could have turned these around.

The following is a list of all wards with majorities of less than a hundred since 2002.

ward	year	majority	winner	runner-up
Kursaal	2004	4	Labour	Conservative
Kursaal	2008	6	Conservative	Labour
Blenheim Park	2008	16	Liberal Democrat	Conservative
Westborough	2010	17	Liberal Democrat	Conservative
St Luke’s	2007	17	Conservative	Labour
Kursaal	2010	24	Conservative	Labour
Westborough	2002	27	Labour	Independent
Southchurch	2011	29	Conservative	Independent
Westborough	2012	38	Independent	Labour
St Laurence	2002	47	Conservative	Liberal Democrat
Southchurch	2012	51	Conservative	Independent
Blenheim Park	2003	53	Liberal Democrat	Conservative
West Leigh	2014	55	Conservative	Liberal Democrat
Milton	2012	58	Labour	Conservative
Blenheim Park	2011	58	Conservative	Liberal Democrat
Blenheim Park	2012	59	Liberal Democrat	Conservative
St Luke’s	2003	65	Labour	Conservative
Prittlewell	2008	72	Liberal Democrat	Conservative
Prittlewell	2012	73	Liberal Democrat	Conservative
West Shoebury	2012	73	Conservative	UKIP
Belfairs	2012	73	Independent	Conservative
Milton	2003	90	Conservative	Liberal Democrat
Prittlewell	2007	96	Liberal Democrat	Conservative
St Laurence	2011	98	Conservative	Liberal Democrat

Blenheim Park holds the distinction of most appearances in this list. Four times out of a maximum of ten. Kursaal, Westborough and Prittlewell appear three times. Eleven different wards are in this list – from a total of seventeen in the borough.  Of the six that do not appear only three have seen no change in presentation since 2002 (Chalkwell, Eastwood Park and Victoria).