Mandatory voting not a magic bullet
Posted Apr 25, 2011 04:07:08 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Despite record low turnout in the last federal election, making voting mandatory may not be the solution many hope.
While compulsory voting does increase turnout, Jason Roy believes we have to do more than just get more people to the polls. The political scientist at Wilfrid Laurier University says the real issue is getting people engaged in the process.
“The big question comes down to quantity versus quality,” Roy tells 570’s Gary Doyle Show. “If we just want people to get out there and cast a ballot based on how they’re feeling that morning then perhaps mandatory voting is one way we could achieve this.”
The problem, according to Roy, is that those ballots are being cast with little attention paid to party platforms or candidates. In other words, the biggest accomplishment of mandatory voting is that it allows a nation to claim a high level of turnout.
And Roy goes further, pointing out that even mandatory voting has its flaws.
“In countries where they have mandatory voting but they don’t have enforcement at the same levels as they do, say in Australia, we really don’t see that much of a difference in the turnout rate,” Roy states.
He suggests that rather than penalize people for not voting an incentive could be offered for casting a ballot. But that leads into speculation of “vote buying” and becomes fraught with other issues.
Roy believes the best approach to increasing voter turnout is to increase engagement so the votes being cast are meaningful.
