#Indyref for temporary residents

indyref.md

There's plenty of debate about whether to vote yes or no. But without discussing which way I'm leaning, I'm concerned about whether I should vote at all.

I'm a UK citizen and live in Scotland, so I have the technical right. I love Scotland. But there are lots of other places I love too, and even more places I've never been to and would like to find out if I love.

Continuing on my current trajectory, I'm going to live here for at least another two years. Probably a bit longer. But then what?

Are many students, or otherwise temporary residents, wondering the same? Do I really have a right to vote and then not stick around in the long term? Is a vote a commitment to, in the event of the result matching my vote, stay here and support Scotland with my income tax and my custom and my activism?

I feel like it should be. It's a vote about a long term future, and it's not going to fade away when this batch of politicians leave office in a few years (is it?).

Certainly I find it more difficult to confidently express any position to anybody who knows that maybe I won't even live in the UK any more when the changes really start to be felt.

Do I have an unconditional right to vote in the referendum? Does voting come with the responsibility to stay in Scotland? Responses warmly welcomed.

Yes, you have a right to vote, and not feel bad about voting. No, it doesn't come with a responsibility to stay in Scotland. These rules need to come somewhere, and you shouldn't feel guilty for falling within the rules. However, you should also vote however you wish to vote, including abstaining by spoiling your vote if you think that best represents how you feel.

Heartened to see someone who realises a vote is a responsibility as well as a right :)

I sense the responsibility part is weighing heavily though.

This is a vote for the people of Scotland, NOT a vote for Scots. If you have your polling card or postal vote, you have that right, and it's unconditional.

You may feel less entitled to vote, but that vote is still yours.

It may feel like an accident of timing that you have that right, but it's yours for the taking. Being able to vote at all is an accident of timing. My grandmother's generation was the first to have female suffrage, and her parents' generation the first to have male suffrage.

Not being Scottish, or plans to leave the UK, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't reduce your entitlement to vote, nor the value of your opinion.

Whichever way you're leaning, I'd encourage you to use that vote.