Compulsory Voting ?

Yoda

Well-Known Member
Should voting be compulsory ?

Just been to vote and when someone said the last government got in power with approximately 18% of the total eligible vote, I thought is that democracy ?

Whether that figure is accurate or not if it was compulsory to vote that would be a true reflection of English people.
 
Should voting be compulsory ?

Just been to vote and when someone said the last government got in power with approximately 18% of the total eligible vote, I thought is that democracy ?

Whether that figure is accurate or not if it was compulsory to vote that would be a true reflection of English people.

It is..... so people can therefore CHOOSE whether to vote or not.....
 
Going by some of the moronic opinions I've heard from some folk, my view is that you should have to pass a test to demonstrate basic intelligence before you're allowed anywhere near a ballot box.

It vexes me that that my vote (to which I've devoted many hours of thought, consideration, conscience and consideration) can be casually cancelled out by some mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging cretin who falls out of his sweaty pit and rolls up to vote without giving it even the slightest thought. Still, that's democracy, hey? ;)
 
I'll be voting later today - not because I have to, but because I can....rather than have the country ruled by an unelected Dictator.

"What's the point in voting, it won't make any difference....". Well you won't have the opportunity to make a difference of any kind if you can't be bothered to get off your arse once every 5 years and make your contribution to how the country is run. You may not agree with the outcome, but at least you have done your bit to influence that outcome.

If you don't vote, don't then moan about the 'state of the country'. (Potential) voter apathy genuinely surprises me. Is it REALLY that much trouble to put an "X" into a box, or are individuals SOOOOO disinterested and disengaged with what actually affects their day-to-day lives?

One snag with enforced voting....you then have the Government telling people what to do - which is exactly what many people seem to resent. Tricky one isn't it?

Right, I'm off to make a brew, crack on with the spreadsheet I have to do, and then head to the polling station later on today......
 
It vexes me that that my vote (to which I've devoted many hours of thought, consideration, conscience and consideration) can be casually cancelled out by some mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging cretin who falls out of his sweaty pit and rolls up to vote without giving it even the slightest thought. Still, that's democracy, hey? ;)

An understandable frustration, but as the man said at the Putney debates in 1647:

“the poorest he that is in England has a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, sir, I think it’s clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to that government that he has not had a voice to put himself under”

Of course I think that Colonel Rainsborough probably assumed the "the poorest he" would give it a bit of thought. Although in 1647, that guy almost certainly couldn't read. Incidentally, people go on quite a lot about those who have died for our democratic freedoms, thinking about WW2. But in terms of dying for democracy in this country, it's really in the Civil War that that happened. At the Putney debates, we were really going places... And then Cromwell knocked it on the head, and everyone decided to go back to how it was before. Missed opportunity there.
 
Isn't not voting still a vote?

Might be better if there was an additional box on the ballot paper to register dissatisfaction with the offerings.

Or maybe space to write your own reason for not casting a meaningful vote:

"None of the above as there is no discernable difference in their policies" (assuming they have any as they seem to be in short supply)

As an aside, this election campaigning period must go down as the most stage-managed in UK history. I can't recall any of the party leaders offering themselves to open meetings where they can be questioned and, dare I say the word, heckled! Everything has been manipulated by the spinners to the nth degree to ensure they only address the party faithful and don't have any embarrasing moments.
 
Going by some of the moronic opinions I've heard from some folk, my view is that you should have to pass a test to demonstrate basic intelligence before you're allowed anywhere near a ballot box.

It vexes me that that my vote (to which I've devoted many hours of thought, consideration, conscience and consideration) can be casually cancelled out by some mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging cretin who falls out of his sweaty pit and rolls up to vote without giving it even the slightest thought. Still, that's democracy, hey? ;)

Surely our university graduates aren't that bad,,,,,,, but thinking about it, a lot are.
 
Going by some of the moronic opinions I've heard from some folk, my view is that you should have to pass a test to demonstrate basic intelligence before you're allowed anywhere near a ballot box.

It vexes me that that my vote (to which I've devoted many hours of thought, consideration, conscience and consideration) can be casually cancelled out by some mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging cretin who falls out of his sweaty pit and rolls up to vote without giving it even the slightest thought. Still, that's democracy, hey? ;)

+1
It would certainly be better if voters were clued up about things.
The level of ignorance of a lot of folk is Appalling, but such is life I suppose.

"Useful idiots" is a phrase attributed to Stalin.
I can see where "Uncle Joe" was coming from.
 
I'm with Orion, if compelled to vote we ought to have the option of saying no to all the candidates if we so desire.
Voting is compulsory in many countries and not voting can attract quite hefty penalties, confiscation of passport for example.
However, if voting becomes enforceable by law we ought to have the option of "none of the above" on the ballot paper in order for the disaffected, fed up and disillusioned - of which there are many - to be able to say "well you made me do it, but I honestly can't lend my support to any of that shower".
The problem for the establishment is that the "none of the above" would probably poll over half the votes in many elections, particularly local or European polls.
 
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We have compulsory voting down here. I wish we didn't. Votes can be bought with simple election promises & the result is a more utopian than utilitarian government.

Sharkey
 
We have compulsory voting down here. I wish we didn't. Votes can be bought with simple election promises

Sharkey

And you don't think that happens here. Look at the the broken promises of the last coilition!
 
The total number of eligible people who didn't bother to vote last time outweighed any total votes for one party so it does matter to vote unless you really can't decide but then at least turn up and void the form.
 
I spoiled my paper at the last election as a formal protest..............guess how many spoiled papers were listed in the returns..........?

Yep........one.

Yet I heard so many people bitch, whine and complain about how dissatisfied they were with the candidates. So assuming the majority of them did actually vote, it seems they still cast a vote in preference fro one candidate, rather than having the nous to actually learn enough to realise they could register a protest by simply marking all the options on the ballot paper.

As a Scot seriously disillusioned with Westminster politics (or to be accurate, disillusioned with the self-serving liars, cheats, thieves and criminals that choose career politician as their path, and Westminster as their chosen crime scene) I want no truck with any of them, so intend to spoil my paper at this election too. And I won't hear that it's a wasted vote, or that it doesn't count. It does. Why would I wish my voice to be added in support of any candidate I have no faith in? Why would I wish to vote for the party that will do me the least harm?

I very much agree with this lady:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/kerry-mcintyre/spoiling-ballot_b_7224026.html
 
Should voting be compulsory ?

Just been to vote and when someone said the last government got in power with approximately 18% of the total eligible vote, I thought is that democracy ?

Whether that figure is accurate or not if it was compulsory to vote that would be a true reflection of English people.

Whoever told you that we have a democracy in the UK? The ordinary man (or woman) in the street has bugger all say on party policies, you merely get to vote for the ones you dislike least. I understand that Switzerland is a democracy.

atb Tim
 
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