Should there be mandatory voting in Ireland?

gormdubhgorm

Thought of this in light of the low turnout in the Presidential election just finished. And an article by David McWilliams where he mentioned that in Australia you get fined if you don’t vote. However, the effect of this has meant that the politics is more centrist.

Would it be a good or bad thing if mandatory voting was introduced in Irish elections? And how would any of the electorate react if fined for not voting?

https://www.aec.gov.au/about_aec/publications/voting/

Jim_Hodge

I have mixed feelings on mandatory voting but I struggle to see how it yielding a centrist government is necessary a bad thing, if it is the will of the people based on a significant turnout of voters.

Fann Linn

People could still spoil their vote regardless.

Cookie_Monster

There's just been local elections here in NZ with abysmal turnout and I was thinking the same, time to get on board and copy Australia. Its a minor news topic post election now also.

Its one of the very few active measures a society asks for /requires from individuals and it's not exactly onerous to do, apathy and laziness is all that prevents ppl voting... maybe a bit of a hit to the pocket would be enough to encourage participation. If it were to come in i would like to see a "none of the above" type option added for non referendum voting though to allow expression of dissatisfaction other than spoiling a vote.

Cyclingtourist

No, it's everyone's right not to vote if they don't want to.

Kermit.de.frog

Careful what you wish for OP. Those determined not to vote might be more likely to vote for strange candidates.

Geuze

If it was made mandatory, like most things in Ireland, it would not be enforced.

Larbre34

No.

Part of democracy is having the choice not to vote as an expression in itself.

We should however move immediately to a fully electronic voting system. The abuse and misuse of ballots yesterday was appalling. One ballot came out of a box in Cork North Central smeared in excrement. If people cannot control themselves, and respect the Constitutional process, control must be imposed on them.

osarusan

Is there any evidence to indicate that countries in which voting is mandatory generally have a more politically informed electorate* than countries where it isn't?

*acknowledging the difficulty of measuring a politically informed electorate.

Strumms

impractical to police it.

You could be out of the country on holiday, on business, in hospital with a broken leg or on your last legs with terminal cancer…

Doctors are busy enough without people making appointments to look for letters and employers writing you a pass ? Sure you could write your own, no way and no resources to successfully verify.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940580#Comment_123940580

There has been a study on that believe it or not- 2008 Canadian

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25166295

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940621#Comment_123940621

Australia has postal voting, which is more or less a requirement to instigate this.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940621#Comment_123940621

How do the Australian’s manage it so ? Population 27m.

Apparently voting has become a cultural event. Held on Saturday’s and they have barbecues etc. Postal votes are also an option. Not many options to look for excuses.

Fines can be appealed but you have to write in. Sounds like much more effort not to vote, than it is to vote over there.

the_pen_turner

no . there are far too many stupid people out there that would vote randomly or for some irrelevant reason that it ruin election. some people are just too stupid to understand wo or what they are voting for. i dont want those peoples vote to count the same as a person who took the time to understand the candidates or issue being voted on

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940649#Comment_123940649

But that has not happened in Australia. If anything it apparently has meant more centrist governments.

Kiteview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940159#Comment_123940159

The solution to that is voting machines which requires people to put in at least a “1” on the ballot.

(And I mean proper voting machines, not ones like the last time where the government announced it was going to spend tens of millions getting the software rewritten so people could spoil their vote).

the_pen_turner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940660#Comment_123940660

maybe it averages out by forcing smarter people to vote.

Kiteview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940649#Comment_123940649

Unfortunately the current system doesn’t guard against that. It is glaringly evident in the various referenda on EU Treaties where people get worked up fantastical claims about clauses in the treaties etc - even though we aren’t asked anything about the content of treaty X but rather to authorise the Oireachtas to make a choice about whether or not it will ratify it (since even after a referendum the Oireachtas is under no obligation to ratify a treaty unless it so chooses to do so).

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940691#Comment_123940691

I did a bit more research on it. Polling stations in Australia have charity stalls selling tea and something called a traditional election sausage.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940647#Comment_123940647

probably because the system is going so long, yes since the 1920’s I’m reading . To adopt it on the fly now here would be challenging I’d imagine…. Maybe impossible.

Kiteview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940647#Comment_123940647

I am fairly sure if there was an on-site after-voting cafe where neighbours could have some cake and tea/coffee and a chat with their neighbours, we’d have significantly higher voter turnout in many places.

Pretzill

No because having the right not to vote is as strong as having the right to vote - how can a country gauge apathy,? It is just as important what the people don't say

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940701#Comment_123940701

I don’t know. They used to say that about drink driving, the smoking ban etc. And when those bikes you can rent in Dublin came out I thought they would be robbed. And 0.0 alcohol would never work here etc. Cultures can be changed is the point.

RobbingBandit

No, there should be an overhaul of the selection process for candidature no more county council or TD nonsense it's going to be seven years until the next election what has happened this time round can't be allowed again

facehugger99

Most of the people I know that don't bother voting are exactly the kind of people I'm glad don't bother voting.

The claim that Australia ends up with more centrist Govt's by making everyone vote is dubious - it could as easily be a correlation as opposed to a causation and I'd want to see evidence before I'd believe it.

Cluedo Monopoly

No

Happyhouse22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940721#Comment_123940721

what kind of process would you like? I feel without some restriction the ballot paper would get ridiculously long. Some constituencies had a huge number of candidates in the last general election

Pat734

It really is a shame that the citizens of the Ireland I live in find it unimportant to cast their vote.

Might be that the electorate feel having to vote would be a "Stick" approach. Why not use a "carrot" approach and make it worth people's time to vote? It wouldn't need to be expensive, the Irish love freebies and would certainly lead to more people voting in my opinion.

GSBellew

There should be a "none of the above" option for elections such as the presidency (as the public have no control over candidates) to allow you to express your dissatisfaction with the candidates selected.

If this option were to "win" the nomination procedure would have to be re-opened and put to the public again in due course, hopefully with additional / new candidates to vote for.

Would have eliminated a lot of the spoiled votes this time around.

Seth Brundle

There is no benefit in forcing people to vote. If someone is unwilling to choose from a range of candidates then that is their choice.
Forcing them to visit a polling station and write something on the ballot sheet would be a pointless and costly exercise.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123944209#Comment_123944209

as the public have no control over candidates

But the public have no control over who can stand in Local, General or European elections???

Everlong1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940660#Comment_123940660

The last thing this country needs is more centrist, "something for everyone" Government. Centrism is the reason working people pay for everything in this country while the lifelong welfare brigade get everything for nothing.