SOMEONE once said that if a Stuff ’Em All Party existed it would pull a lot of votes.

And six months ago, with so much anger surrounding politics, few would have argued.

But democracy is far too precious to risk by dwelling on the thorns of the past and this election offers the chance for people to flex their own political muscle by voting on Thursday. And that is what we should all do.

A key question is how big will the turnout be?

It is hard to believe that back in 1950 no fewer than 83.61 per cent of the electorate voted. In the past two elections that figure had dropped to around the 60 per cent mark.

Will it be up again on Thursday? Back in 1992 – when the turnout was 78 per cent – a teacher from France staying in Poole told me she was flabbergasted by how many homes displayed political posters in their windows.

Today I drove five miles to work through residential streets and spotted just three.

Is that a sign of people being disaffected or just a reflection of how our methods of communication have changed?

The party leaders’ televised debates certainly injected fresh vigour into the election. Now it is up to us to get down to our polling stations and make our opinions count.

Whoever wins, some people will end up thinking we are being governed by chumps.

But if we don’t bother to put our ‘X’ on a ballot paper one thing’s for sure. We chumps will get the representation we deserve.