To Vote or Not to Vote?
The end of the 2010s and beginning of the 2020s have been host to some of the most dramatic international and political developments in recent history. With Britain officially parting ways with the European Union (EU) in January this year, and many people both within and outside the United States hopeful for an end to the Trump presidency following the upcoming 2020 American election, this is opportune time to critically examine the way elections are conducted not just in Australia, but all democratic nations across the world. And the perfect place to start may just be a debate about the merits of mandatory voting laws.
According to the CIA World Factbook, of the nearly 170 electoral democracies around the globe, just over 20 currently require all eligible citizens to vote, and only about half of these countries actually enforce it. Australia is actually the only English-speaking country with a compulsory voting regime, a fact which may come as a surprise to Australians who had never thought of voting as an ‘optional’ activity.
And recent statistics prove laws which make voting mandatory have a dramatic effect on voter turnout. For example, according to the Australian Electoral Commission, 92% of eligible Australians cast a ballot in the 2019 federal election. By comparison, the US Census Bureau says just 61% of eligible Americans reported voting in the 2016 Presidential Election. This means that only 27% of eligible voters actually voted for current President Donald Trump. Similarly, voter turnout was just 72% for the ‘Brexit’ referendum according to the UK Electoral Commission, such that only 37% of the eligible population actually voted to leave the EU.
The contentious nature of the outcomes of both these votes suggests that, in the absence of mandatory voting policies, there is a danger for vocal special interest groups to exercise too much political influence, while the voices of many citizens (often including those who are young, poor and/or racial minorities) go unrecorded. In a 2018 article published in the American Journal of Political Science, Stanford Assistant Professor Emilee Chapman argued implementing a compulsory voting regime would help ‘close the gap between public opinion and policy outcomes’ in the United States.
On the other hand, critics of mandatory voting regimes are concerned about the potential for a growing number of politically disinterested and uninformed citizens, who are turning up to polling centres purely out of obligation, to sway the results of an election. And beyond this, some people believe compulsory voting is contrary to the very fundamental principles of democracy and free choice. For instance, in a 1995 issue of ‘Elections Today’ magazine, Australian journalist Padraic McGuinness argued that compulsory voting infringed on a person’s civil liberties by stripping them of the right to be apolitical.
My personal hope is that this new decade will usher in an era of increased political interest and participation amongst people all over the globe, whether they are required by law to vote or not. After all, it was not until the 1920s that women in the United States were given the right to vote. Will the 2020s be the decade where more people finally decide to exercise this right?
Article written by Morgan Lynch
This article appeared in the Torts Illustrated New Decades, New Horizons (2020) Publication