“Use your vote” is emblazoned in huge blue letters on the bridge that flanks the main entrance to the European Parliament building in Brussels.
European elections, much like those to the Senedd, have been typified by poor turnout caused in part by confusion about the decisions at stake.
The campaign slogan for the latest European polls taking place this weekend is though wasted in Brussels. Not because the residents of the capital of Europe are so fanatical about the institutions, but because, in Belgium, voting is a legal duty, not a choice.
It’s a model that former First Minister Mark Drakeford recently suggested Wales should adopt.
“Many countries around the world, Australia and Belgium to take just two random examples, have that system,” he told BBC Radio Wales last month.
No.
“Not voting” is a choice that denotes freedom and democracy.
As is anonymity.
I would favour incentives over punishments, as suggested near the end of the article.
Though I think we’re all in agreement that we need to do something to improve democratic involvement.
Agreed…$$ tax credit type of thing.
Also, encouragement and advocacy of online/mail-in/early voting. Simplify the process.
Have you considered the possibility that the lack of involvement is a reflection of the inadequacy of democracy and that democratic involvement will inevitably decrease as civilisation progresses?
Democracy is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
Compulsory voting feels like a way to make us complicit in false choices. It’s like saying “Here, you can have shit or shit” then saying “Why don’t you like your shit? You voted for it”