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compulsory voting

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Apparently the turnout for voting in the General Election is less than 30%? (I'm sure I read this in the Daily Mail)
To increase the number of people that vote, should voting be made compulsory, and illegal if you don't vote? Or would it be too much hassle to enforce?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Don't think it would change much and a forced vote is not a free, fair one. Incentives maybe?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The turnout for the 2001 general election was 59% (the lowest for eighty years or so).

    I don't think it's right for the state to force people to vote.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm in favour of compulsory voting, a democracy cannot truly represent all its people if they don't all vote. In most cases it's just laziness why people don't vote and for those who genuinely don't want to vote for any of the choices available there should be a "None of the above" box.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Re: compulsory voting
    Originally posted by Luce
    Apparently the turnout for voting in the General Election is less than 30%? (I'm sure I read this in the Daily Mail)

    For local and european elections this is the correct level.

    However, before we go down the route of compulsory elections - thus removing the democratic right not to cast a vote - we need to look at the system of voting which we use. These are being pilotted at the moment as part of tomorrow's elections. One system, although I cannot remember where, has already shown a 40% vote return and that's before election day. As a comparison this area had a turn out of 27% the last time this election took place...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by kevlar85
    for those who genuinely don't want to vote for any of the choices available there should be a "None of the above" box.

    Thats a good idea. Maybe instead of compulsory voting you could have withdrawal of Tax breaks for those who don't vote... or something similar.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think once we can ensure total security, internet, text message or even interactive TV voting would also increase the number of people who bother.

    Although at the end of the day the key is to be appealing. Too many people out there already see politicians as creatures from another planet and politics as irrelevant to their lives.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Aladdin
    I think once we can ensure total security, internet, text message or even interactive TV voting would also increase the number of people who bother.

    Each of which (except txt messaging) is currently being tested in the Local Election...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Aladdin
    I think once we can ensure total security, internet, text message or even interactive TV voting would also increase the number of people who bother.

    And that would be.... err, never. There is no such thing as total security. Even if the encryption used is of sufficient power to not be breakable using simple brute force methods (without access to the amounts of computing power the NSA probably has, at any rate), any system designed and administered by humans is fundamentally flawed. Just ask yourself how Kevin Mitnick (possibly the most infamous and prolific computer hacker in history) got into the systems he compromised; it wasn't always through weaknesses in the technology, but quite often by convincing someone at the company whose system he was hacking to just give him the password. Oh, and I believe he is quoted as saying that the security situation hasn't significantly improved since his heyday. I think I'll stick with the good old fashioned polling booth for the time being, thanks.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Man Of Kent
    Each of which (except txt messaging) is currently being tested in the Local Election...

    I am wrong. Txt messaging is also being tested.

    Just out of interest, the current system isn't secure either. In fact it is possible for someone to find out who you voted for, if someone was so inclined...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Aladdin
    I think once we can ensure total security, internet, text

    Although at the end of the day the key is to be appealing. Too many people out there already see politicians as creatures from another planet and politics as irrelevant to their lives.

    How is politics 'irrelevant' to anybody's life?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by monocrat
    How is politics 'irrelevant' to anybody's life?

    Everybody has different opinions
    Not everybody's opinion can be met
    Whoever they vote for wont do what they want anyway
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    First of all, your sure of something because you read it in the Mail, that really made me laugh.

    Anyway, there is a none of the above option, if you vote for all of them, in other words put a cross by all of them thats classed as a mis-vote and they are counted.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by monocrat
    How is politics 'irrelevant' to anybody's life?

    It may not be irrelevant, but voting may be. What is the probability that your one vote can swing an election one way or the other? A fraction of a percent. This means that voting involves people investing a small amount of time to do something for which they get no obvious payback. Economists have spent years debating not why so few people bother to vote, but why anyone bothers to vote at all. On top of that, as DB56K said, whoever they vote for will just renege on their manifesto promises anyway, so there isn't that strong an incentive to vote.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by DB56K
    Everybody has different opinions
    Not everybody's opinion can be met
    Whoever they vote for wont do what they want anyway


    But stating that politics is not 'relevant' to anybody's life is a non sequitur. If a person owns a car, they pay tax on petrol determined by politicians.

    The whole notion of politics is to determine how people should be governed and what the best method of doing so is. That would always be 'relevant' in the context of a person's life.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Politics are relevant to everybody but some people distance themselves from it and opening declare that they don't want anything to do with it and that "all politicians are the same and it doesn't matter who's in charge".

    I don't agree with it but I've heard many people saying such things over the years.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by DB56K
    Everybody has different opinions
    Not everybody's opinion can be met
    Whoever they vote for wont do what they want anyway
    Originally posted by monocrat
    But stating that politics is not 'relevant' to anybody's life is a non sequitur. If a person owns a car, they pay tax on petrol determined by politicians.

    The whole notion of politics is to determine how people should be governed and what the best method of doing so is. That would always be 'relevant' in the context of a person's life.

    If you look I didn't state that "politics is irrelevant"

    I would bother coming to this forum if I held those views why?

    I merely posted the most common reasons for not voting and as Darth Fred correctly stated many people think voting is 'irrelevant'
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    First of all, your sure of something because you read it in the Mail, that really made me laugh

    No no, I only said "apparently," I wasn't sure! I guess you can't trust any papers.
    Politics isn't "irrelevant" as it affects everyones' lives.
    I think voting should be compulsory; although it doesn't seem fair to force people to vote, if people just can't be bothered, peoples' views won't be represented accurately, as someone mentioned earlier.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by DB56K
    Originally posted by DB56K
    Everybody has different opinions
    Not everybody's opinion can be met
    Whoever they vote for wont do what they want anyway



    If you look I didn't state that "politics is irrelevant"

    I would bother coming to this forum if I held those views why?

    I merely posted the most common reasons for not voting and as Darth Fred correctly stated many people think voting is 'irrelevant'

    You didn't but someone else did.

    To state that politics is irrelevant is an illogical statement.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by monocrat
    You didn't but someone else did.

    To state that politics is irrelevant is an illogical statement.

    True enough, but if people feel that they can have no impact on the nature of politics in this country, they may not see the point of getting involved, which I believe was the point Aladdin was making.
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