Voting is compulsory in over 25 countries including Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, France . . .
What compulsory voting systems
have in common is that they oblige citizens to vote in elections or attend a
polling place on voting day. If eligible voters do not attend a polling place,
they may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or
imprisonment.
"Yes, compulsory voting should be part of the equation," says political
commentator Jonathan
Levine, who thinks that victorious political leaders in compulsory voting
systems have a higher degree of legitimacy.
Compulsory voting ensures a large voter turnout, which some candidates might
not desire. When voting is obligatory, victorious candidates clearly represent
a majority of the population, not just the politically motivated individuals
who would vote without compulsion. This system helps ensure that governments do
not neglect segments of society that are less politically active.
Compelling voters to the polls for an election decreases the impact of
external factors on voters' capacity to vote such as restrictive employers. If the
law says everybody must vote, restrictions on voting are easily identified and removed.
This measure prevents disenfranchisement of the socially disadvantaged.
Countries with compulsory voting generally hold elections on a Saturday or
Sunday as is the case in Australia, to allow working people to fulfill their
duty to cast their vote.
If voters do not want to support any given choice, they may cast empty
ballots, rather than not voting at all and reinforcing apathy for the whole
process. This method also ensures that the voter has not been intimidated or
prevented from voting.
And since voters are voting anyway, compulsory voting encourages voters to
research all of the candidates more thoroughly. Candidates need to appeal to a
more general audience, rather than a small section of society.
Under a non-compulsory voting system with fewer people voting, smaller lobby
groups can easily sway a small section of the people to the polls and thereby manipulate
the outcome of the political process.
According to political scientist Arend
Lijphart, compulsory voting increases voting by 7--16% in national
elections, and by even more in local and provincial elections. These large
increases in voter turnout occur even where the penalties for not voting are
extremely low. The amount of money spent on an election decreases since
compulsory voting dispenses with the need for large campaign funds to lure voters
to the polls.
Perhaps most significantly, high levels of participation mitigate the risk
of political instability exacerbated by less legitimately elected leaders.
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J.L. Morin is the award-winning author of Amazon's and Occupy's bestselling novel, Trading Dreams, free at Kindle.