UK Politics

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Mandatory voting, yes or no? (feddit.uk)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Sorry if this is the wrong place for this, It seemed pretty specific but I also understand if this is more a news sub.

Now for the topic at hand, I'm personally not a fan. I think it's a sticking plaster over the top of some significant shortcomings in education and disenfranchisement that fails to get people engaged in politics in a meaningful way.

The end game shouldn't be getting a load of ignorant voters to ignorantly cast a vote; it should be to have an informed, educated and interested electorate going out to perform their civic duty in a way that brings everyone into the process, old, young, rich and poor.

I'd much rather see a focus on teaching our young people how our system works, why it's important and how and why we have a duty as individuals to turn up to vote, hold our elected officials accountable and become a part of the democratic process.

What about you?

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[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago

I'm a hard no.

I think people should vote, and voting is generally pretty easy in this country - including easy access to postal and proxy voting. So anyone who fails to do the basic bare minimum in a democratic society (of turning out to vote in a general election every five years) is someone who is clearly so disengaged from politics that I really wouldn't want them casting their uninformed RNG vote and deciding the future of this country.

This is what happened at the EU referendum. There had long been an assumption that a higher turnout was good for Remain (Leavers were more motivated, so higher turnout meant it was more likely that moderate Remain voters were turning out). But what actually happened was turnout went so high that it blew past them and into a load of nihilists who didn't give a shit about anything and voted Leave just for the fuck of it. These are not the people who should be deciding our future.

I would prefer that voter turnout was higher than it is, but that's because I think political engagement should be higher. That's the thing we should be targeting; voter turnout is the symptom, not the cause. If you force people who aren't evenly barely politically engaged to cast a vote, you're asking for a shitshow.