Following on from the electoral register thread:

I reckon they should just make it a legal requirement that everyone resident in the country should be required to vote in at least all general and european elections.
That would quickly solve the issue of poor voter turn out.

Obviously some changes would be required:

– polling would need to be available for longer, preferably over a long weekend.
– casting a vote should be easier including online and texting options.
– a “None of the above” box would need to be added for abstainers.

How’s that sound?

I’d love to see a “none of the above”, can’t see it happening though, it would probably get the most votes!

Maybe attendance at a polling station shoudl be compulsory, not voting?

Although, exercising one’s democratic right not to vote for any of the candidates may not be somethign that the State shoudl have to monitor?

Removing ones freedom to abstain from voting goes against the idea of living in a democracy…..tickable box or not.

wwaswas you can abstain and have it counted by not placing any marks

On balance I tend to support this notion. People will die for the right to vote and yet people cannot be @rsed to take a few minutes out of their life to choose a government but will actively engage with X factor and other reality voting scenarios. Odd

Removing ones freedom to abstain from voting goes against the idea of living in a democracy

You really think it is a expression of ennui rather than lazyinesss/disinterest- they can abstain from voting but not from participation – hardly a democracy if the majority of your citizens dont participate is it?

I people don’t want to vote for any of the candidates then what is the point of insisting that they go to the polling station to tick a box?

Errr, g/f & I am on the local electoral register ,but neither of us got a voting card for the last election, where do we fit into your system?

Maybe attendance at a polling station shoudl be compulsory, not voting?

We really don’t want a bunch of uninterested people voting. The have exercised their democratic right not to take part in the democratic process, whether they realise or not.

Probably in the same place as me zippy.

That would quickly solve the issue of poor voter turn out.

No, educating the population in engaging with the political process would make a difference to poor voter turn out, not forcing them them to vote.

neither of us got a voting card for the last election, where do we fit into your system

Pretty sure you don’t need a polling card to vote. If you’re registered you can just show up at a polling station in your ward with some ID and they’ll find your name on the list and give you a ballot.

nickc – on the money

Is this thread and the other provoked by the fact that the new guv’nors are cutting all our services?

When we eventually get interactive TV they’ll have to refuse access to X-factor in your house untill you have ticked a box (using the TV remote obviously), “none of the above” should be an option tho.

Compulsory voting is a nonsense if those we vote for go back on their word.

It would be hypocritical to punish people for not voting if the people they vote for cannot be taken to task for what accounts to lying, by saying one thing before they get in power and then doing another when they are in power.

I people don’t want to vote for any of the candidates then what is the point of insisting that they go to the polling station to tick a box?

Because it cleary differentiates between people that do not feel their views are adequately represented by any of the offered political partys and those who just can’t be arsed to walk 200 yards to the local primary school because there is a good episode of Top Gear on Dave.

Currently politicians can easily shrug off low attendance as voter apathy, but if the 35% of the population that didn’t vote in 2010 actively cast a “None of the above” vote then they would be forced to pay more attention.

Poor vote turnout is due in part to the parties losing touch with the people not voter apathy. There will always be some people who can’t be assed to vote but they usually have no opinion on society.

Smacks of social engineering to me.

Personally I think its incumbent on the politicians to motivate the electorate to turn out to vote for them. I also think that it should not be assumed that the non voters voted for the governing party as is the case at the moment. Therefore each MP’s vote should only count for as many votes as they actually received when elected. i.e. poorly motivated electorate = difficult to legislate, which is in my view democratic.

Australia have compulsory voting and you get a fine if you don’t partake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_voting

I am sure I remember reading somewhere that historically a high mandate favors the more left wing parties e.g. right wing voters are more inclined to be registered and vote, the higher the turnout the more votes for left wing parties as saturation has been reached in right wing voters so all the newbies are lefties, if that makes sense. Will search that one out.

Should it be illegal to avoid voting?

NO!

Even politicians need to have some method of measuring of how important democracy is to the population. To find out whether they are doing anything worth getting excited about etc.

Forcing people to vote wouldn’t be very democratic would it?

The democratic system, if you ask me, is a bit of a farce and too bloody expensive!

I’m 30 this year, masters degree, career, family, and i’m embarrassed to say i’ve never voted, I have paid what I think is a decent amount of attention to what is going on in the world but have never felt the urge to vote for any party over any other, hence never bothered….

Seems a sad state of affairs – and to be honest it’s partly the reason I now live in australia

Even MPs use vote abstention [in the House] as a way of making their feelings known – they don’t have to turn up for the vote either

Why shouldn’t their bosses [us] have the same opportunities?

Forcing people to vote wouldn’t be very democratic would it?

OK how about “none of the above” and “democracy is bollox, anarchy roolz” or whatever, options aswell?

It would be hypocritical to punish people for not voting if the people they vote for cannot be taken to task for what accounts to lying, by saying one thing before they get in power and then doing another when they are in power.

Sums it up nicely, anything deviating from your manifesto should be put to referendum, i.e. the LibDem’s would actualy have had to ask the country before going back on everything they said.

To say voting should be compulsory (whilst I agree with it in principle) kind of defeats the whole object of voting. We are a deomcracy, it is your democratic right to vote, but you do not have to vote should you choose not to… As much as I despise apathy, I believe that compulsory voting would be a greater evil, and it would also encourage bogus voting by people who do not care!

What is desirable is more reason for the greater masses to want to vote… You can bet your bottom dollar if 80% of our population were starving, didn’t have jobs and had no healthcare or state schools, they’d all turn out and vote! 😉

its about Personal Freedom,

in the same way as I do not have to vote, I can roam this nation without ID of any kind. If the authorities want to prove who I am its down to them.

Making voting compulsory is a ludicrous idea. People don’t vote because they don’t care about politics. Forcing people into the polling stations will not increase people’s understanding or engagement, it will just make single issue parties like the BNP more popular.

Isn’t it strange when we live in a society where we hand all of the really important decisions over to a group of people that we openly admit we don’t trust.

We are a deomcracy, it is your democratic right to vote, but you do not have to vote should you choose not to…

See I think it goes beyond a right. It should be a DUTY like paying taxes and doing Jury service.
Just one of these things you have to do to maintain society.

Forcing people into the polling stations will not increase people’s understanding or engagement

I think it would. A lot of people currently feel that they are not qualified to vote because they don’t follow politics. So they use typical crowd-apathy to shrug it off because someone else will do it.

If you forced people to go through the process then at least some would make an effort to decide who to vote for.

Having said that: I also think voting systems should probably quiz people on their choice to see if they actually know what they are voting for 🙂

sounds like a load of crap to me! why on earth would you want to vote for a politician? they’re the last people you can trust to do what they claim to do, they only make the claims to get your vote in the first place then conveniently change their minds later on so why bother, and let’s not forget that they’re all as bad as each other anyway so why even have an election in the first place when it changes nothing anyway, all voting does is waste a **** of public money. even if they made it compulsory most people still wouldn’t bother including me and rightly so.

A power hungry, corrupt individual could always change their name by deed poll to ‘none of the above’…just a thought! 😉

Where do I stand in this if we were to assume I rejected democracy and wish to work towards the establishment of an anarchic state? Don’t tell me that I could vote for that by the way 😉

I don’t vote, and I can’t see myself voting any time in the future. I just don’t care. But you probably won’t ever find me complaining about what the governments doing.

A power hungry, corrupt individual could always change their name by deed poll to ‘none of the above’…just a thought!

I like that 😀

Also, if voting was forced, I would probably start a party with only one promise. To abolish forced voting, and win by a landslide.

No, not imo.

Although I quite like the thought that those who can’t be arsed to vote, don’t automatically get all the benefits which comes from being a part of society.

It has always amused that voting has always been compulsory in Argentina, despite the fact that the armed forces have regularly seized power and banned elections !

I don’t vote, and I can’t see myself voting any time in the future. I just don’t care. But you probably won’t ever find me complaining about what the governments doing.

+ 1

It sounds apathetic but in my opinion if you really believe governmental policy under the UK system has any truly meaningful bearing on your life experience then perhaps you aren’t getting out/laid/off your face enough..?

However… mandatory voting would be a very amusing spectacle to witness as the great unwashed are forced to mingle shoulder to shoulder with the joneses..

No, educating the population in engaging with the political process would make a difference to poor voter turn out, not forcing them them to vote.

No. Giving them something worthwhile voting for would be a start. Rather than the oxbridge cloned career politician that we have filling pretty much every seat in government right now…

only if electoral promises are treated as such and legal accountability applies for false representation ditto incompetence or self interest in whilst in office

or in shorter terms – no

Giving them something worthwhile voting for would be a start. Rather than the oxbridge cloned career politician that we have filling pretty much every seat in government right now…

Exactly.. our worthless little lives are governed by The Eton Mafia for the financial benefit of The Eton Mafia..
End of..
Get used to it or sharpen yer pitchforks and march on Westminster

1) never trust a politician, they are humans and therefore unsuited to holding power.
2) do something about it. Voting is a small start.