Thought on turnout / voter apathy

Zuiderzee

I travelled a long way to vote in the local election. There is a councillor I want out, in my opinion he is corrupt and dishonest.
This cost me quite a bit of cash, but I feel very strongly about it.
I voted tacticly to try to shift him, and encouraged a few others to do so.

I dont expect others to go to those lengths, but there is a common attitude that if you dont vote, then dont complain.

One thing that was dissapointing was my local polling station is across the road from a pub.
I was tired after a long journey, so after voting I went in for a coffee.

There were a lot of people there, mostly young, getting drunk - had been there all day, and could not be bothered to cross a two lane country road and vote.

I find that very frustrating.

It is obvious that the only long term solution to voter apathy is education.

But at a time when inner cities can have a voter turnout as low as 19% there needs to be a more proactive and radical short term solution.

I think there are two possible ways to improve democratic participation in the short term.

One is to make voting compulsary, with a small fine if you dont vote - e.g 50 Euro or something of that nature, I believe this system is used in Austria and Belgium.
One wonders how many people who dont vote 'on principle' would then stay away from the polling stations.

The other method - which I think would be better - is a reward system.

You get far more with a carrot than with a stick.

Every week thousands of people willingly pay money to enter the Irish National lottery.

From the national lottery funds are given to help out on public projects like sport, arts and culture.

We average a national vote or election roughly every 2.5 years between local, national, european, presidential and referenda.

So we set aside - say a million Euro from lottery funding for each election, in a program to encourage participation in the democratic process.
It costs the state nothing.

All a person needs to do to qualify is turn up at the polling station, take their ballot and do what they want with it.
They can vote, they can spoil the ballot, they can put it in the box blank if they wish - but by turning up at the station, they qualify to potentially win by lottery a small prize, say 50 or 100 Euro.

All anyone would need to do is participate, and your name goes in a draw. No one is forced to vote but everyone is certainly encouraged to do so.

I really think that this would raise the turnout to a much higher level - your chances of winning are quite high.

Some purists feel that this is bribing the electorate, that it somehow cheapens the process, and I do see that arguement - I vote on principle, not profit motive.

But our education system has failed to indoctrinate the importance of participation in a democracy - our politicians have certainly failed to inspire.

Those who are purists could even decline to be entered for the draw.

So when the politicians speak of participation, and the importance of voting, why dont they do something more proactive about it.

In a cynical sense I do understand that in some ways politicians dont really care about apathy, the people voting are generally politically minded, so it maintains the status quo

More ranting at the blog

Zuiderzee

From Times
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TURNOUT: DRY WEATHER in most parts of the country along with two byelections in Dublin helped to produce a healthy turnout for yesterday’s voting. Patterns showed an earlier high turnout in rural areas, while in city and urban areas, many commuters waited to return from work before voting.
More than three million people were entitled to vote in the elections for the European Parliament and the country’s 34 county and city councils.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen voted in Mucklagh National School near his home in Offaly – where turnout was estimated at about 60 per cent when the polls closed

In Dublin, 53.5 per cent had voted in Cabra by 9pm.

Turnout in the north inner city was below average, at 19 per cent, however Scoil Caomhín in Marlborough Street had recorded a turnout of 30 per cent by 8pm last night.

In the Fingal County Council area, the polling centre at Balbriggan NS recorded a turnout of 40 per cent by 8pm.

At St Mary’s Girl’s National School in Lucan, south Dublin, 57-58 per cent of voters voted by close of poll.

At St Brigid’s School, Cornelscourt in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council area, saw a turnout of over 43 per cent by late evening.

Voting in Cork city and county was steady, with some stations hitting 50 per cent by 7pm.

In Beaumont in the largely middle-class South East ward of Cork city, polling reached 51 per cent by 7pm.
In Turners Cross in the more working class South Central Ward, turnout went to 33 per cent by 7pm.
In Blackpool in the North Central Ward, turnout was running at 45 per cent by 7pm.
Clonakilty in west Cork reported a high turnout of about 50 per cent by 7pm, with large numbers of immigrants voting.

In Co Tipperary, a turnout of 67 per cent was recorded in the Christian Brothers school polling station in Thurles.

In Sligo, a turnout of 63 per cent was recorded at Cranmore Community Centre.

The Roundwood polling station in Co Wicklow saw 64 per cent of its potential voters casting their vote by 10pm, while in Wexford town the Christian Brothers school polling station recorded a turnout of 48 per cent.