General Election 2010

your vote will count towards who is, for example, the next most popular candidate in your constituency, and will therefore affect how people vote come the next election when they look at the share of votes last time. Plus, in the discussions that will take place in the next few days about popular vote vs number of seats, all votes will count equally.

Also, voting is a right that has been hard won, and is not available to all in the world.

Voting for the guy who came in second place doesn't affect policy.

In the talk about popular vote vs number of seats I hope to also see some talk about number of spoiled ballots.

And you're right - voting is a right other's don't have, and shouldn't be taken lightly, etc.. That's why spoiling is more responsible than abstaining.