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AIBU?

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Original poster

Not casting a vote should be made a criminal offence

82 replies

palanca · 07/10/2016 18:17

Turnout is always low, even in the Referendum. With postal votes and possibly online voting in the future, voting is straightforward. There certainly should be a further box for "none of the above" so I am not saying for one minute that people should be forced to choose one the options presented.
People have fought and died for the vote - let's make sure that it gets used.
Other countries do this including Australia, Cyprus, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Singapore, Uruguay so it is not only North Korea!

OP posts:
e1y1 · 07/10/2016 18:19

But then isn't is taking away peoples' freedom not to vote?

e1y1 · 07/10/2016 18:20

*is it not taking away Blush

TheFreaksShallInheritTheEarth · 07/10/2016 18:24

Whilst I agree that everyone should vote, I don't agree with prosecuting those who do not.

HarpyFishwifeTwat · 07/10/2016 18:25

I would only support this if there was a None of the Above option that could trigger a re-run of the election with new candidates.

It's the role of political parties to present candidates and policies that people want to vote for. If they don't do that, it's not the fault of the electorate. On the one time I didn't use my vote it was because I knew nothing about any of the candidates, there had been no campaign and information wasn't easily available online.

At the moment spoiled ballot papers mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, parties don't care about them.

dinosaursarebisexual · 07/10/2016 18:26

What would NOTA vote achieve? I have little time for people who don't appreciate the right to vote but can't see the benefit to democracy, which is the point of voting.

Original poster
palanca · 07/10/2016 18:26

happy to have two further boxes then
A> I do not want to vote

B> None of the above

Fully respect deliberate decisions not to choose any of the candidates but cannot bear the apathetic which it is pretty obvious is the majority of those who do not vote

OP posts:
PinkSparklyPussyCat · 07/10/2016 18:26

What a ridiculous idea! People have fought and died for the freedom to choose.

What happens if someone is ill or has some sort of emergency. Are you going to make them a criminal because they didn't vote?

I'm registered for postal voting as I can't be arsed to go to the polling station. Last year I was on holiday for the election and it was touch and go whether my ballot paper would arrive on time. Why should I end up with a criminal record?

YABVVU

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 07/10/2016 18:28

YABU.

If people choose not to vote that is their choice,.and they choose not to have a say.

The way to cure voter apathy is not by making voting compulsory

AnnieOnAMapleLeaf · 07/10/2016 18:29

YABU.

gillybeanz · 07/10/2016 18:30

Duh, by saying you don't want to vote aren't you voting?
What a stupid thread Grin Go have some Wine and Chocolate

ThePinkOcelot · 07/10/2016 18:31

No, I don't agree at all. Where would you draw the line? People could have all sorts of reasons not to. How would you work out who had a genuine reason and who didn't?!

alltouchedout · 07/10/2016 18:31

I always vote (if you count spoiling a ballot, which I did in the police and crime commissioner elections). I don't think it's something you should be compelled to do though. People died for my right to vote, not to ensure that if I chose not to I'd be prosecuted.

JosephineMaynard · 07/10/2016 18:33

A criminal offence?

So what penalty do you propose? Fines? Prison for repeat offenders? Being hauled in front of a magistrate to decide whether your reason for not voting is good enough to avoid a criminal record?

If people don't care enough to bother casting a vote - and there's options for postal and proxy voting already available to make things easier - would you really trust them to make any sort of informed decision about which box to put their cross in?

Manumission · 07/10/2016 18:33

Attempting to compel people out of their apathy seems a slightly odd idea.

MsJamieFraser · 07/10/2016 18:33

Yanbu, people thought and died for the choice to vote, not be forced to vote.

You seem very confused OP, by making it a criminal offence, you are forcing people to vote, unless your happy with people breaking the law. Hmm

Original poster
palanca · 07/10/2016 18:34

are you really suggesting that in Australia as an example that there would not be the usual defences for not being able to get to vote ...

we need to do something to get turnout up and if it is good enough for Oz and the Belgians, why not us?

OP posts:
0pti0na1 · 07/10/2016 18:36

YABU. I value the freedom to vote immensely, but don't think people should be forced to do so. However, if people don't bother to vote, I don't think it's reasonable for them to moan about the result.

"None of the Above" and spoiled ballot papers are pointless IMO. I have never heard of either of those making any difference to anything. If anyone thinks they can do a better job than the candidates on offer, they should have got themselves nominated.

gleam · 07/10/2016 18:39

YABU.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 07/10/2016 18:39

Yabu

I really, really object to this. Voting should always be a choice.

milkshakeandmonstermunch · 07/10/2016 18:40

  1. There is no need for box "A". If someone doesn't want to vote then they don't vote. Showing up to vote to not want to vote is idiotic.

  2. As PPs have said, people died for my right to choose to vote. Fwiw I always vote but that is MY choice.

honkinghaddock · 07/10/2016 18:41

Yabu. There are too many reasonable reasons why people might not vote and you would need to be chasing up all those that didn't vote to see if their reason was reasonable or not.

buttfacedmiscreant · 07/10/2016 18:45

Yeah I didn't vote one time because I had a migraine and couldn't stand up without throwing up. I guess in your world I would have had to go to the Dr to get an excusal note or go vote anyway. Lovely.

Who is going to pay for this?

larrygrylls · 07/10/2016 18:45

I think it is a good idea. It is law in Australia and the penalty is a $20 fine. So, of course you can choose not to vote if there is something very important to do instead. I suspect it will discourage apathy and make the electoral mandate more convincing.

TheNaze73 · 07/10/2016 18:50

YABU

Pollyanna9 · 07/10/2016 18:51

I TOTALLY disagree.

The voting was low in the referendum - you mean from the stay contingent? It was high compared to general elections wasn't it?

I've not voted for years in a general election, they're all as bad as each other.

But Brexit was what I felt was the one and only time in the last god knows how many decades that I actually had a chance to directly influence something that mattered to me.

Sadly, if you're talking general elections OP (and you need to give us clarity about that if you haven't yet), it's up to the parties to engage us to the extent that we feel strongly enough about something to vote. I've not felt like that for years.

What is TOTALLY sad and pathetic is the younger age group who totally failed to turn out and then pissed and moaned afterwards because they couldn't cast their vote on bloody FB?!! That's a large component of the number that 'didn't vote at Brexit time' - apathetic snowflakes who haven't got a clue.

So I disagree, the way you making people want to vote is by making them feel that their vote will actually make a difference.