Should Voting In Political Elections Be Mandatory?

[magsmay]

and if so would we see minority parties winning more seats? Would it encourage the right-wingers who put the world to rights in pubs but never vote, to elect hardcore facists? -or would the 'big three' parties get more votes because the voter had to put someone down so just picked a mainstream party they vaguely thought they should?

[VHG]

Why are peole so sneering about "right wingers" and "hardcore facists".

People like Stalin and Chairman Mao and Pol Pot were all (alledgedly) left wingers / communists and look how many millions of people were killed by these leaders in their countries.

Stalin was responsible for the deaths of ten of millions of people (in his own country), Chairman Mao is alledged to have been responsilble for between 40 million and 70 million deaths in China and Pol Pot was responsible for the deaths of about 25% of the Cambodian population.

And they were all "left wingers".

Something to proud of for the "socialists" eh !

[LazyGun]

Slightly off-topic VHG. And it is hardly as if posters on this forum is never sneering about lefties is it?

Complaining about balance issues over supposedly disparaging comments about right wingers by invoking Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot as exemplars of left-wing ideology is basically a reverse Godwin - an over the top and not very useful analogy.

Mandatory voting - something of an oxymoron in a supposedly democratic country. That having been said, the price of enjoying the benefits and individual freedoms of a democracy is the obligation of exercising your civic responsibilities, and voting is the primary example of that.

[DangerUXD]

no, democracy means the right to vote or not vote. Forcing the issue is not democracy.

[rockyracoon]

No, if I was forced into a polling station to vote, I'd just write bollix over the ballot paper, as UXB says it's democracy and our right to vote or not. As a side, I actually have voted in every election since I reached 18, the next one maybe not, I really have no clue who to vote for, they all seem to be lacking.

[Old_Geezer]

No. One should not be forced to vote for a candidate one does not approve of. To bully folk into doing so is not right and undemocratic given that your desire to force them would override their desire not to encourage any available candidates.

[magsmay]

VHG: I was not making any political statements nor sneering at any particular set of views - oh and how about coming onto a thread and at least trying to answer the question??

Everyone else- -thank you for your input -thought this thread may have gone further but VHG has probably frightened people away. Its just a theory I'm researching about, kind of for work purposes and thought I may get a good selection of different responses from people on opposing sides of the political fence.

[vulcan42]

I see nothing wrong in making election voting mandatory. We have laws governing most of our life but something as important as running the country is left to to an individuals interpretation of democracy. Of course mandatory voting cannot guarantee a better government but it might help in alleviating the apathy that has surrounded politics for years.

[magsmay]

old-geezer -that's one of my points for discussion - if one is MADE to vote would there be more protest votes - eg. for the monster raving loonie party or perhaps for the far left or right parties? Would mandatory voting be counter productive to mainstream politics? BTW -this isn't my homework lol!

[Prudie]

Well it certainly wouldn't produce fairer or more representative results. I don't think the majority of non-voters would make in formed choices if forced, what then is the point.
Just an aside if I was generalising I'd say it's left-wingers who sit in pubs whinging and not voting.

[arwyn]

What vulcan said 14.05pm ..

[New Judge]

Why are peole so sneering about "right wingers" and "hardcore facists".

It’s not just right wingers and hardcore facists who come in for a pasting, VHG. In a question the other day some respondents were described as “borderline Tories” (rather like you might say “borderline schizophrenic“).

But back to the question. Compulsory voting should only be introduced if each ballot paper provides an option for “None of the above”. Otherwise, in the event of there being no candidate which suit’s a particular voter he will be forced to vote for somebody he does not want to see elected. But on a practical note, quite how the law would be enforced is quite another matter. No doubt local authorities will be given the powers to impose fixed penalties upon the miscreants, so I suppose at least it will be a nice little earner for them.

[LazyGun]

You might wish to investigate the australian experience mags, where voting is compulsory. Non-compliance is investigated, and unless a reasonable excuse can be given, a fine or even court action can be used.

http://www.aec.gov.au/faqs/voting_australia.htm

And a recent article from Queensland, strongly defending the democratic principle of compulsory voting, where there have been some recent proposals to abolish it...

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/threat-to-compulsory-voting-puts-our-democracy-at-risk/story-e6frerc6-1226547256092

[rockyracoon]

Shush NJ, don't give them ideas ;)

[Noth43]

Does it matter which career politician you vote for? After all, they're all the same and merely EU puppets. The unelected, unaccountable former communist bureaucrats in Brussels that cannot be removed by any political means have the power to overrule our judiciary, limit our Governments policies and dictate laws to us anyway.
Call that a democracy?
Communism ran it's course in the USSR and it collapsed. Now it's kicking off again, this time throughout Europe.
As naive, ignorant and stupid as I am, you asked for opinions so that's mine.

[Baldric]

How would making it mandatory
/// help in alleviating the apathy that has surrounded politics for years///
have you never heard of spoilt ballot papers/unmarked ballot papers etc,
is it that you just want another oppressive law brought in?

[LazyGun]

Its an interesting subject. Should voting be considered a civic right or a civic responsibility? Does a politician elected under a compulsory voting system enjoy a greater sense of political legitimacy compared with one vote d in under the non-compulsory system.

Under mandatory voting systems, voters are allowed to offer a spoilt ballot if they wish, although personally I like NJs suggesting of a "None of the Above" category which could offer a real sense of voter disillusionment.

It is also interesting that under a compulsory system, voting is changed to the non-working days of the week, something else that may be seen as an improvement.

Fact is I think we have a problem in this country. Turnout in general elections suffered a major fall back in 1992 and is recovering slowly, if at all.

http://www.ukpolitical.info/Turnout45.htm

Average turnout in local elections is even worse, at around 40%, and then we had the recent PCC debacle, with a pathetic 15% only.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/nov/16/uk-election-turnouts-historic

I certainly think we should be looking at ways of improving the turnout. Why not shift elections to the weekend, for example?

[China Doll]

You know, at the next general election I'm at this point completely uncertain whether I will vote. I have no faith or trust in any of the three major parties and the lesser ones (that I'm aware of which is obviously not all of them) are of no interest to me. Mandatory voting might get me to the booth but it still won't force me to have a sensible opinion.

[LazyGun]

@ China - Thats why I quite like NJs idea of a "none of the above" category, so genuine disilliusonment with the whole political process could be quantified.

I think we should have it regardless of whether voting was mandatory or not, personally ;)