Emancipation
England, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales
A duty to vote?
Lord Goldsmith published a report recently and entitled: "Citizenship: Our Common Bond" and in which, amongst other matters, he reviews the issue of whether or not people should be required to vote in General Elections. Fortunately he opts for the reasonable view that compulsory voting would not achieve desirable aims. On the topic of the need for an enforceable duty to vote he states, "Turnout in elections in the UK is undoubtedly lower than I or any person who cares about the health of our democracy would like; it was only 61% in the 2005 general election."
He refers to an ippr study showing that in the 1940s about 90% of the population thought they had a duty to vote and now just 50% do with the 31% of the younger segment holding this view. Goldsmith states, "It is regrettable that the number of people who feel that they have a duty to vote has dropped so significantly; but I do not see how enshrining a duty to vote in law, when that duty is not felt any longer by a majority of people, would help to change the way that people approach voting."
It is true that some advocates for compulsory voting favour it because then governments really do "represent" the majority. This of course begs the question of this only being true if everyone's preferences are represented in manifestos. In reality, in Britain at least, the party that wins is the least bad choice holding less than 20% of the electorate's support.
Goldsmith considers the creation of a legal duty to vote would either attract very significant resistance .. and that when it comes to voting, it is important that people choose to vote. Increasing turnout through compulsory voting, he believes, would not be for the right reasons.
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