Half the world’s population has a chance to go to the ballot box this year. The problem is that our brains are busy with other things so need a few shortcuts to help decide whether and how to vote.

In the UK we go to the ballot box on 4 July. We have a gruelling month ahead with every effort being made by politicians to influence the short-cut mechanisms used in our brains to decide where that mark will be put on the ballot paper.

If I think about how much strong feeling I’ve had over the behaviour of politicians over the last 14 years, how much time and mental energy it has absorbed, I’d like my brain to be able to recall all those headline grabbing moments in a five-minute show reel. But it’s unlikely to.

Yesterday was a head to head TV debate between the leaders of the two main political parties in the UK. I didn’t watch it. Partly because I don’t find I can cope with listening to or watching certain politicians any more. Partly because I don’t feel comfortable that an hour of sparring should weigh in heavily against many years of track record that my five-minute show reel would help remind me of.

I asked ChatGPT this morning ‘what heuristics [short cuts] do voters employ?’

Here’s a brief summary of nine of them:

🤔 Party identification – aligning with (or against) a party rather than a candidate

🤔 Candidate characteristics – who’s the person I’m voting for?

🤔 Endorsements – what are other prominent people I trust saying?

🤔 Issue proximity – does the candidate’s view align with my own on the issues I care about most?

🤔 Retrospective voting – making my decision based on past performance of politicians

🤔 Economic voting – state of the economy (I blame or reward the incumbents)

🤔 Sociotropic voting – considering overall societal good rather than my personal situation

🤔 Bandwagon effect – I want to be part of the majority or avoid wasting my vote

🤔 Simplifying issues – reducing complex issues to simple, emotionally resonant themes

I just had a go at asking my brain to consider each of these in turn in terms of 4 July. Why not try it for yourself. I’m not going to share the results for each of them but suffice to say that I know clearly what I don’t want, I’m focused on national societal concern, and loathe the fact that we have a first past the post political system.

Good luck everyone for the month ahead.

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#equalitydiversityinclusion