+ "My vote won't make a difference to the outcome." This is especially common in first past the post (FPTP) elections, as used in the UK and US. If you don't vote for the winning candidate in a one-member area, your vote is totally wasted. This, I think, is one of the reasons why turnout in the last two British elections has been historically low - the outcome has been a foregone conclusion.
I include under this category those who abstain because they do not believe that they will get a fair representation under the electoral system. Single member FPTP is badly flawed, but there are worse systems. The only time I've not exercised my duty to vote was at the last European Parliament elections, which operated under a closed list system. Vote for a party, and the party orders the candidates in their preferred order. I reckon that this is a totally undemocratic system, and abstained from voting until it is made at least as democratic as the system it's replacing. Only Britain, it seems, could replace a profoundly undemocratic system with one that's even worse.
+ "I don't want to vote for any alternative." Under FPTP, the only way to win is to be many things to many people. This means that a candidate (or party, the two can usually be interchanged) will adopt a broadly centerist position on many things, and only differ from other candidates in the minor details. For instance, at the last UK general election, one party promised 20 billion pounds of tax cuts over five years. The government budget is 400 billion pounds per year.
FPTP tends to squeeze out the radical and the different, in favour of the consensual. When the consensus changes, but none of the players realises this, more people will reach this conclusion. I had a very difficult time deciding between Party X and abstaining under this banner at the last UK election, simply because I didn't feel that any of the available parties adequately reflected my views. In the event, Party X won out.
+ "I can't be bothered to vote." AKA "Politics doesn't affect me." I genuinely cannot understanding how anyone can hold this position. Perhaps other contributors can help me there.
+ "I intended to vote, but something happened." The cat got sick / the car broke down / I wanted to arrange a postal vote but never got round to it. Stuff happens. Other things crop up.
Personally, I can understand a lot of reasons why people don't vote. I don't *agree* with many of them, but I can *understand* them, and work to change the opinion, the system, or both.
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