Why People Don't Vote

I noticed that much was said during the US mid-term election campaign in TV and radio news items as well as in blogs about low voter turn out. This problem has also come to the fore in the UK in recent years at election after election there has been an ever-lowering percentage of those eligible to vote actually going and voting. At the moment it is about 42%. This is especially marked in local council elections. There has been hot debate over this issue and a number of both causes and solutions have been advanced.

One solution put forward by many is to make it mandatory to vote. This would be a complete travesty in a democracy. The whole point of democracy is that you have the right and the choice to vote or not.

The political parties think that they only have to get the right collection of policies together and the people will come out in their droves again to vote. They have been bending over backwards in their efforts to appeal to the voters. They struggle to appeal to the young, schoolgate mum, pensioners, Essexman, just about anyone who might listen and give them a vote.

The whole trouble is that they are looking in the wrong place for the problem. People still discuss politics in pubs up and down the UK, so it is not politics they are bored with. In local elections independent candidates and single issue candidates do very well. I believe the problem is that people are fed up with the politicians and the party political system as it now stands.

Like the US, the UK has the first past the post electoral system in that the party with the most seats in The House of Commons forms the Government. It is a good system in that it makes for certainty and stable governments but it can mean that a party which had a minority of votes actually cast controls the Government. It also encourages the party political system where two big political parties are government parties and the others make up the numbers.

Certainly British voters are fed-up with politicians who vote in Parliament slavishly to the party line and not in accordance with the interests of their area, or of the country and or of the voters who put them into parliament in the first place. M.Ps should remember that the oath of loyalty they swear on entering parliament is to The Queen, in other words the country and its people, and not to the Leader of their party or even the party itself.

» Hatsrus's blog | login or register to post comments | Hatsrus's profile | 299 reads

Oregon, where I live, has a total vote by mail system.

Submitted by Jeanne on Fri, 2007-05-11 16:37.

I like the convenience of it, but feel it could be terribly abused. How do they know that an abusive child of an elderly parent didn't do the voting, or that an abusive spouse didn't force their husband or wife to vote the way they want them to vote. I don't think anyone should be forced to vote by the government.

» login or register to post comments

That is the problem

Submitted by Elly on Thu, 2007-05-17 15:28.

even in Australia there have been cases of vote rigging. It was done in unions because postal voting was permitted, and there's been court cases over other events. I do believe that the only way is for people (with photo ID) to sign in to vote. If people don't understand the politics, or don't wish to vote - they can attend and get their voting form and put it without any comment/note into the ballot box.

Elly

Join BlogEvolve - click and join

» login or register to post comments

There was a big scandal in Britain with postal votes, certain

Submitted by Hatsrus on Thu, 2007-05-17 14:38.

unscrupulous people were abusing them and have been prosecuted.

» login or register to post comments

In Australia

Submitted by Elly on Fri, 2007-05-11 17:07.

(and it can vary from state to state for their elections) but we can have "absentee votes" or "postal votes." Also a team from the electoral commission visits hospitals, nursing homes etc. So there should be no excuse. I think it is a wonderful priveledge that we get to vote, and though I understand those who don't want to vote, I believe that they should record their "vote" even if an empty paper, so that the system cannot be rorted by wrongdoers.

Elly

Join BlogEvolve - click and join

» login or register to post comments

I always believed that everyone should vote, especially women

Submitted by Hatsrus on Thu, 2007-05-17 14:50.

because other women fought and died to get us the vote. I have changed my mind since 1997 because in Britain now there is no party that I find myself in agreement with. I have even voted for The Monster Raving Looney Party candidate at local elections. In General elections in Britain there is now no one for me to vote for.

» login or register to post comments

yes, in Britain too there is provision for postal voting

Submitted by Hatsrus on Thu, 2007-05-17 14:41.

for invalids or those who will be out of the constituency on holiday or on business on the day of the poll and also in general elections for ex-pats like me.

» login or register to post comments

It is interesting to hear how other countries vote, and how

Submitted by Hatsrus on Fri, 2007-05-11 13:36.

their systems work.

British Polititians would love to have the 85% voter turn out that France recently had for the Presidential elections.

» login or register to post comments

Some folk don't want to vote

Submitted by Elly on Thu, 2007-05-10 04:06.

and don't understand the value of their vote. I guess if they don't understand the political system their vote can be an issue. I like it that it is compulsory in Australia to vote - though wish people would collect their voting form, and just put it in the ballot box without a pen/pencil mark rather than write foul messages. The politicians don't see the abuse - the electoral commission workers and volunteers see it. Shame, because they don't value their democratic right.

Elly

Join BlogEvolve - click and join

» login or register to post comments

It is a democratic right to abstain, I don't think people

Submitted by Hatsrus on Fri, 2007-05-11 13:39.

should be forced to vote, this makes a mockery of democracy. People in some communist countries were obliged to vote even though the only party allowed was the communist party.

» login or register to post comments

In Australia it is compulsory

Submitted by Elly on Fri, 2007-05-11 14:08.

to vote - but the reality is that is compulsory to turn up to vote. If you write nothing on your voting form that's OK - it is marked as "informal" and no vote recorded. The trouble with optional voting is that some unscrupulous people will turn up at the polls and vote in the name of a person that they know is not voting. Soon we will have to provide photo ID to vote - but at the moment I can turn up at a polling booth and give a name on the electoral roll and I don't have to prove that I am that person. People who do not wish to vote can contact the Electoral Commission and seek to be removed - older people/sick people etc can get off the rolls.

Elly

Join BlogEvolve - click and join

» login or register to post comments

However...

Submitted by huttriver12 on Wed, 2007-05-09 22:04.

our local authority voting is still first past the post.We do have postal voting too.STV was trialed in government board elections last time.

Visit Blogfeast

The Kiwi Riverman

» login or register to post comments

I believe there is a type of proportional representation in EU

Submitted by Hatsrus on Fri, 2007-05-11 13:42.

elections. In Scotland they have STV for part of the elections to the Scottish Parliament.

» login or register to post comments

Interesting post and...

Submitted by huttriver12 on Wed, 2007-05-09 22:01.

comment.Voting is voluntary in NZ, but you must be on the roll. We scrapped first past the post because we were getting elected dictatorships.We have had MMP - mixed member proportional. Half the seats are in electorates and the other half are determined by the percentage of the vote a party gets. We now have a number of parties who must get a 5% threshhold to obtain seats. One electorate seat and a few percentage points can get a party into parliament.A bit messy, but a democratic parliament in practice.Something like some European parliaments.

Visit Blogfeast

The Kiwi Riverman

» login or register to post comments

Voting is mandatory here Hatsrus

Submitted by TeeBug on Wed, 2007-05-09 20:19.

Here in Australia it is compulsory to vote in all elections - Federal, State and Local. If you don't vote, you receive a 'please explain' letter and if you don't have a good excuse, you face a hefty fine. Even being away from home is not an excuse because we have postal voting (where you can cast your vote prior to the election), and absentee voting (where you can cast your vote in an area away from where you live and are registered). Our electoral rolls are open to all, which is one way you can track people. Every now and again, someone will call at our homes to see who lives there and to check if they are on the electoral role. I guess that all of this makes us undemocratic. It is a silly system really because if one doesn't care about voting, all you have to do is turn up, have your name crossed off, receive your voting slip, and put it in the box. You don't even have to mark it, making it a 'donkey vote'. A waste of everyone's time; it's about time we changed our system to make it a conscience thing.

» login or register to post comments

I, too, believe voting should be a matter of personal choice

Submitted by Hatsrus on Fri, 2007-05-11 13:47.

not of compulsion. British people would feel very unhappy with electoral officials calling at people's homes to see who lives there. In UK you get a form in the post to fill in for the household but no one checks to see whether you have done it.