Roger Darlington drew my attention to an IPPR report arguing for compulsory voting (See theIPPR report here, and also the BBC coverage). As I say in my comment to Roger’s post, I’m not convinced by the case for compulsory voting, just as I’m not convinced for the case of state funding of political parties (not least how do you decide how much to give to which party?).
If it ever comes to fruition though, I very much hope there will be an official way of registering dislike of all options, either by not marking the ballot, or (better still) marking a ballot with a specific “None of the above”. Not voting is not purely “I can’t be bothered”, many people simply dislike the options, feel they’re all as bad as each other, and need a way of registering such views. I’d think this would actually be a good option now, regardless of the matter of compulsion.
Low turnout has many causes, not least that the politicians, as evidenced by this weeks meltdown at cabinet level (4 ministers making headlines when they’d rather not be), seem unable to win (or keep) public trust/confidence, engage with the people convincingly (too much soundbite and media focused politics), and convince an apathetic public that voting is the way to enhance their personal situation, as well as the environment, country and world we share.
I’ve previously argued (see here) that the first-past-the-post voting system is a flawed mechanism, leaving people disenfranchised: We have a Government elected on about a third of the ‘popular vote’: More people didn’t want Blair in power, than did. What message does that send that ‘every vote counts’, especially to those of us stuck in safe seats.
I’ve always voted where I’ve been able to (I’ve only missed one ballot, and that was due to our travels to Australia etc.). Whilst I’ve varied my votes across the entire political spectrum, and feel that voting is an important civic duty, compulsion just doesn’t strike me as the way to solve the lack of engagement in politics.
Compulsion therefore strikes me as a last-ditch and rather desperate act, tackling the symptoms and not the disease.
