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It's always good to read your stuff. It seems a lot of your readers are alienated by the UK's present politics, judging by the responses to the compulsory voting proposal. Perhaps the way to overcome their evident disgust is to give it an outlet. I suggest we make voting compulsory, but that in addition to the list of candidates, every ballot paper carries a 'none of the above' box to tick. –Ian
Compulsory voting will cause another set of problems. What does a government do with people who don't or can't vote for whatever reason? Elderly or Disabled people who struggle to access polling stations, for example, or those in hospital, or those who can't read English, or are on holiday or just don't want to vote? Will they be fined? Compulsory voting probably isn't the important thing to campaign for. Better to have candidates who truly connect with their communities. And parties that are popular, socially and environmentally responsible. And tax the very rich more. –Carolyn
Surely someone who doesn't vote is happy with the present political crew and sees no reason to change things, right? –Patrick
This question of introducing compulsory voting should not be posed on its own, since it is interdependent with that of the electoral or voting system. –Iain
I would support compulsory voting, but on a practical level, how would a government enforce it? –Ann
Compulsory voting does nothing to address the wholesale disenfranchisement and disillusionment of large sections of the population who are not registered to vote for a range of reasons. It does, however, raise issues about how to police such a legal requirement. For a start, would failing to vote be a civil or criminal offence? Will it be a mandatory fine for not voting, what about spoiled ballots, etc?
Far greater political involvement would be achieved by implementing three changes. Firstly, automatically registering people to vote when they meet defined criteria (primarily when they reach voting age, but obtaining settled status should be considered). Secondly, we should introduce a form of proportional voting selected by a referendum. And finally, all ballots should include a choice of 'none of the above'.
An additional requirement could include the need for a minimum voting percentage threshold in order for the proportional representation aspect to engage. This would reduce the possibility of second-vote tactical voting. –Frank
Compulsory voting is theoretically a good idea. But until both '(anti)social media' and 'mainstream media' are properly regulated with rigorous fact-checking, it's a recipe for disaster. For it to work, we must ensure that vote-related information is honest and factual to avoid voters being swayed by the disinformation that we know is being disseminated across our politics, both right- and left-leaning, and becoming more prolific by the day.
Our first obligation is to stop this dead right now with a cross-party fact-checking authority that would screen all political information, either signing it off or rejecting it before it's disseminated to the putative voters. The future of our democracy and the mental health of future generations are under threat. Such a plan is easy to suggest but very hard to execute. We must try harder, and we must prevail. –Ted
My thoughts are, don't make voting compulsory. But perhaps adopt the Australian system, where you can choose not to vote, but you pay a $20 penalty for that privilege. So it is a sort of compulsory system, with a get-out clause. I do believe we should all vote (that is our civic duty), but forcing people to do so would possibly create even more spoiled ballot papers, wasting the counters' time. Many would also see it as government interference and protest as such. I have long believed that the Australian system could solve both those problems. –Sarah
Is there a concept of 'abstention' in democratically organised structures? Voting was compulsory in the Soviet Union, just saying. –Andrew
I think compulsory voting is a bad idea. Forcing people to vote will mean even more ill-informed people voting than right now, and it will irritate those who would not otherwise vote, which will likely cause them to vote against the party that forced them into the polling station. Instead, we need to introduce proportional representation, so we are fairly represented in government, and automatic voter registration (although voting should still be optional). We also need increased education about the nature of the political system so that potential voters have a better understanding of the effect of their vote. –Ellis
Compulsory voting would help, but confidence somehow has to be restored in politicians to make people vote willingly. That could be a long haul, involving policies that make the ordinary people feel politicians care about their quality of life. At present, they don't. –Susan
I'd agree with compulsory voting, but we're in times of individualism with fierce pushback against anything enforced for the common good, such as Covid restrictions, or licence fees to fund a public broadcaster. And in these times of misinformation, would we want more votes from people influenced by malign forces? Would compulsory voting need to be accompanied by legislation to bring back more real journalism? The ideal would have been to have made it compulsory years ago, as in Australia. –Jomish
On the question of making voting mandatory, I say no. Even if you overlook that this is a democracy and you can't force people to vote, making people do so would not be beneficial. Those who resent being forced into polling stations would vote for the worst candidate for 'payback'. Sadly, it's human nature, no way around it. Maybe if we had honest politicians who demonstrated transparency instead of just talking about it, we wouldn't need to force anybody to vote. The reason many don't vote is that they feel that it doesn't make any difference. The party in power becomes the same as the last party that just got voted out!
How about we fact-check what candidates are telling us in real time? That would help dispel some of the criticism and also boot out of contention anybody trying it on! If our vote has become meaningless, don't blame the voter, blame the damn politicians who've brought us to this question! –Vee
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