Top links: Home About us Contacts Jobs Links
Shop Your basket Support us

• Current Releases
• Archive

You are in: news

Search
keywords: theme: Please select a themeAssets and WealthChildren and FamiliesClimate Change and EnvironmentCrime and JusticeDemocracy, Power and CitizenshipEconomy and BusinessEducationHealth and Social CareHousingInternational, Security and Human RightsMedia, Culture and SportMigration and IntegrationPolitical IdeasTransportWelfare and PovertyRegional IssuesGovernance and Civic RenewalPublic ServicesQuality of LifeEconomic PolicyGlobal Climate Network

Only compulsory turnout can restore principle of universal suffrage

01 May 2006

Ahead of this week’s local elections, new research shows that as turnout continues to fall, ‘turnout inequality’ has also been on the rise. In a new report published today (Monday), the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) argues that only compulsory turnout can close the gap and restore the principle of universal suffrage. The idea is backed by two current Cabinet Ministers.

ippr’s analysis shows turnout is in long-term decline and that the young and the poor are less and less likely to vote:

• In the last two General Elections, the participation gap between manual and non manual workers more than doubled – from around 5 per cent in 1997 to around 11 per cent in 2005.   In the 1960s there was a 7 point difference in turnout between the top quarter of earners and the bottom quarter of earners but this grew to around 13 points in 2005. It is no coincidence that the most deprived area in England contains the constituency with the lowest turnout - Liverpool Riverside had turnouts of 34 per cent in 2001 and 41 per cent in 2005.
• In the last General Election, young people (those aged 18-25) were only half as likely to vote as older citizens (those aged 65 and over). All the evidence suggests that young people are not picking up the voting habit as they get older. Rather than voting in higher numbers through the years, turnout among the first low turnout generation – the one that came to age in 1992 – has fallen with each subsequent election, and fallen faster than turnout among older generations.  In 1992, 70 per cent of 20 year olds voted, but by 2001 turnout among the same generation, now in their late 30s, had fallen to less than 40 per cent.
• Turnout of 59 per cent and 61 per cent of registered voters in the last two General Elections was the lowest since 1918, while local elections have seen a decline in turn out in London from 48 per cent in 1990 to 32 per cent in 2002.

Countries like Belgium and Australia have average turnouts of over 90 per cent in dozens of elections in recent decades and inequality of participation is almost eradicated when turnout is made obligatory.

Turnout inequality increased significantly when the Netherlands abolished compulsory turnout laws in 1970. Turnout for all social groups before abolition was over 90% but turnout after was as low as 66% for those with the lowest level of formal education.

ippr's analysis shows that other reforms – proportional representation, postal voting, weekend voting - only have a limited impact on increasing turnout and often the effects do not last during subsequent elections. ippr found that reforms like these often make it easier for people who already vote, rather than encouraging non voters to get the voting habit.

Ben Rogers, ippr associate director, said:

“Our political class need to face up to the fact that only voter duty can stop the haemorrhaging of turnout. But people also need to know that their votes will count. Compulsory turnout is not compulsory voting. Ballot papers can be spoiled or can contain options to vote for 'none of the above'. We are comfortable with compulsion in other walks of life, such as jury duty or the requirement to educate our children. Surely our democracy is valuable enough to deserve a similar level of backing.”

Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, Leader of the House, said:

“Falling turnouts should concern us all. Differential turnouts are even more disturbing. This report provides evidence that more and more young people and members of deprived communities - the very people who have most to gain from political decisions – are falling out of the habit of voting. This report convinces me more than ever than we must consider radical measures to renew our democracy. I personally support ippr’s case for compulsory turnout, based strongly on international evidence, and I welcome their proposals on how we take the argument forward.”

Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Wales, said:

“This report initiates a long overdue debate on our electoral system in Britain and contributes to our wider programme of democratic reform and renewal. Bringing government closer to the people must remain a one of our key priorities. I particularly support the recommendation to design a voting system that regards participation in the democratic process as a civic duty, like jury service. In Australia and other countries, the civic duty to vote reconnects those who are distanced from the democratic and political process, producing consistently high turnouts without any complaints whatsoever about infringing individual liberty. Issues of public participation and how to strengthen our democratic institutions will continue to shape political debate. This report is a valuable contribution.”

A Citizen’s Duty: Unequal Voting and the Case for Compulsory Turnout is available from www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports

Notes to Editors:

A Private Members Bill on the issue was introduced by International Development Minister, Gareth Thomas in 2001 and was supported by Home Office Minister Fiona MacTaggart and Labour MPs Tom Watson, Mark Tami, Martin Linton, Peter Kilfoyle and David Winnick.

The little polling that has been done on the public's attitude to compulsory turnout suggests that people are divided on the measure, with about half the population supporting it and the other half opposing it. MORI’s State of the Nation Poll in 1991 showed that 49 per cent supported compulsory turnout and 41 per cent were opposed. A Joseph Rowntree Poll in 2000 found that 30 per cent of those polled agreed or tended to agree with compulsory turnout.

Turnout in Australia has averaged 94.5 per cent in the 24 elections since 1946. In Belgium turnout has averaged 92.7 per cent in nineteen elections since 1946.

All eligible Australian citizens on the electoral roll are required to cast a vote in Federal and Commonwealth elections, unless they can provide a valid and sufficient reason for not voting, including:

• It is part of the elector's religious duty to abstain from voting
• The elector was not present in Australia on polling day
• A belief that it is morally wrong to vote
• Physical obstruction, either through sickness, outside prevention or natural events or accident.
• Diversion to save life, prevent crime or assist in a disaster.

Reasons not considered to be valid or sufficient include:

• Conscientious objections to compulsory voting, falling short of a belief that it is morally wrong to vote
• A belief that compulsory voting is inconsistent with the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
• No preference for any of the candidates

The Australian Electoral Commission is required to send three notices to all those who appear to have failed to vote, asking for a valid and sufficient reason or requiring the non-voter to pay a fine of AU$20 - the equivalent of about £8. Court proceedings for failure are prohibited if the elector pays the penalty or had a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote. If, after receiving the third notice, the elector does not pay the penalty, the Electoral Commission may prosecute the elector for failure to vote. The court may impose a maximum penalty of AU$50 - about £20. A magistrate cannot sentence an elector who has been convicted of the offence of failure to vote to imprisonment. However, if an elector is fined by the court and refuses or neglects to pay the fine within the time allowed for payment, an arrest warrant may be issued.

Contacts

Richard Darlington, ippr media manager, 020 7470 6177 / 07738 320 645 / r.darlington@ippr.org

Matt Jackson, ippr senior media officer, 020 7339 0007 / 07753 719 289 / m.jackson@ippr.org

 

Communications

• SIGN UP FOR IPPR NEWSLETTER
• BECOME A FRIEND OF IPPR
• IPPR PODCASTS
• RSS FEEDS