Guernsey Press

First make research compulsory

WHEN it comes to electoral reform, it all sounds pretty nuclear.

Published

Certainly, recent reports that a couple of deputies would like compulsory voting brought in to counter low election turnout bears all the hallmarks of the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut.

However voter apathy is undoubtedly a problem on our island and something this column has often raised concerns about.

Last April’s general election turnout was hailed a ‘record vote’ at 21,803. But out of a total population of 63,000, and a potential 49,000 eligible adult voters it is less than representative.

It also followed months of effort by the States and tens of thousands of pounds being spent on signing up as many people as possible to the electoral roll. This finally reached 30,320, yet still meant 19,000 eligible islanders didn’t bother to register, let alone vote – either through apathy, antipathy or error.

Crunch it all down, and it’s hardly an emphatic display of democracy at work.

Yet whether making voting a legal requirement – punishable, potentially, with a fine or even jail – the solution seems extreme.

Such systems in other countries, Belgium being the oldest, appear to work – although administration and enforcement costs must be eye-watering. In some places, those who cannot vote (for example if unwell or incapacitated) must get a doctor’s note. Being away from home is no excuse either – that’s where postal votes kick in.

Just how valuable such universal voting can be is debatable as, once again in the case of Belgian voters, they need only present themselves at polling stations. They are not compelled to cast a vote.

Those in favour will often see voting as a civil responsibility (similar to jury duty) and something that stimulates broader political thinking. Those against view it as a civic right rather than obligation, and that enforcement encourages skewed voting that damages genuine outcomes.

Here, in the absence of any empirical research on why so many islanders feel disengaged from local politics, or any evidence as to whether technology might help boost our voter numbers, leaping straight to the compulsory voting conclusion feels unfounded, unjust and draconian.

Ironically, the abject opposite of democratic.