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Voting is one way for a group of people to make a decision together. It makes sure that everyone has a chance to play a part in making decisions in a fair way.

You may have voted to choose an activity or a topic in school. Or you may have voted to choose a person to join the school council or leadership group. Taking part in these votes is your chance to have your opinion heard about things that affect you.

Democracy means 'rule by the people' which means that the people decide who is in charge of the country. In a democracy, people get a big say in how the country is run, and the decisions that are made.

The people have this say by voting in elections. People vote for the people that they want to be involved in making decisions about how the country is run.

These people are called representatives because they speak or act on behalf of other people. These representatives work together to make decisions and agree the laws that affect us all.

People usually vote for the person that they feel will make the best decisions.

In the United Kingdom votes are marked on a piece of paper. The paper has a list all of the names of the people who want to be the representative for that area. The voter puts an X in the box next to the name of the person that they want to be the winner. People are able to vote by post, or in person at a polling station.

The voting papers are put into a box. The box is not opened until voting has finished and the votes are ready to be counted.

This is all done privately and is called a secret ballot. Voting is done in secret so that:

• no-one else knows who you voted for
• people can be comfortable making a free choice

The person who gets the most votes in a particular area wins.

Most of the people who try to win the election are part of a political party . People often vote for the person who is part of the political party that they most agree with.

In Wales and the United Kingdom, you can choose not to vote in elections. But many people feel that voting is an important thing that a citizenshould do. If groups of people don’t vote, the elected representatives may not consider their views as much when they make decisions.

The right to vote is one of our human rights.

Human rights are listed in the United Nations Universial Declaration of Human Rights. This is a list of 30 rights and freedoms that should belong to all of us, all around the world. It was written in 1948. International laws about rights are still based on this list from the UN today.

People in Wales and the UK haven’t always had the right to vote. Long ago, kings, queens and princes ruled as they wished, and people did not have a right to vote at all.

At first, when the UK did have a parliament, only rich men were allowed to vote for MPs, and there was no secret ballot.

Ordinary people had to protest before everyone was allowed to vote.

In the 1830s, The Chartists were a group who wanted more people to have the right to vote in elections.

At the time, only one in five men could vote. The Chartists felt that this was unfair. They wrote a list of six demands, in their ‘People’s Charter ‘ in 1838. Their demands included:

• all men over the age of 21 to have the right to vote

• elections to be held every year

• voting to be done in secret

The Chartists sent petitionsto parliament, but the government did not listen to them. This led some Chartists to turn to violence. Their leaders were arrested and the movement declined.

The Chartists failed at the time but by today all but one of their demands have been met.

Before 1918, women were not allowed to vote at all. Many groups of women protested to try to get the right to vote. The most famous group of protesters were called the Suffragettes, who were started by Emmeline Pankhurst.

They carried out some famous campaigns, even using violent tactics to try to show that they should be given the vote.

The most famous Welsh Suffragette is Margaret Haig Thomas, who later became Lady Rhondda. She was from Llanwern, Newport. She went on marches and took part in other kinds of protests too. She was sent to prison for setting fire to a post box.

In 1918, women over the age of 30, who owned some property, were given the right to vote. All men over the age of 21 were given the right to vote too.

In 1928, another law gave women the same voting rights as men.

Even today, there are some parts of the world where people don't have the right to vote, or the right is limited.

This is because some leaders do not let people vote freely, or stop some people from voting. Some countries also stop some people from getting elected to parliament.