Not casting a vote should be made a criminal offence

[palanca]

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!

Look what happened with the EU referendum, when people that don't normally vote, did

Oh YABU.... and you know it!!

What about people with SN how will they be judged capable or not capable to vote if they decided not to.
What do you say to those who believe that certain people shouldn't be allowed to vote, I bet you love them. You know the ones who go on about those with little intelligence and low IQ's. Not that I agree with them btw.

I sympathise with the intention but I think in all honesty YABU! Also, I strongly suspect that the kind of person who doesn't value their right to vote may not vote the same way as me

I'm not sure what the people who trot this out every few weeks think it would achieve, other then force those who are politically apathetic to go into a booth and tick a box. One of the scariest things to me about the referendum was the fact that so many people who were ignorant of important issues got to vote anyway based on their own prejudices and assumptions. Usually this 'everyone must vote' rhetoric is spouted by those who seem to think that, for example, Brexit wouldn't have happened or we wouldn't have a Tory government if everyone were forced to vote. I don't understand that reasoning.

But you cannot force voter turnout by threatening criminal charges - how is that democracy? People who believe in a candidate will make the effort to vote. I am 38 years old and I voted for the first time last year in the Canadian federal election. Should I be charged for refusing to choose between shyster #1 or shyster #2? No.

the kind of person who doesn't value their right to vote may not vote the same way as me

Yes, I think that's I was trying, in a much more convoluted way, to say

I strongly agree with this.

The census is compulsory so why not voting?

People are just objecting to it because it's a change.

Like you say if it's good enough for ozzies it's good enough for us.

No one will be sent to jail or even fined but it will change the culture.

We are all being disadvantaged atm by the culture of not voting.

This would compel employers to be flexible to allow employees time to vote.

It would no longer be socially acceptable to admit to not bothering to vote.

I don't want people who don't give a fuck to vote.

YABVVVU
Try living in a country which forces you to vote. A county where you can't get a job unless you prove you have voted. A county which makes you justify you have missed an election even though you have registered as living overseas.
No. I don't think you would like that would you?
Believe me I've tried it.

The census is compulsory so why not voting?

The census is asking for factual information, not your opinion on how something should be done.

No, YABU. It is disheartening when people don't vote, but forcing voting might lead to stupid protest votes (deliberately voting for extreme candidates to discredit the system).

YABU and naive

I have to say, given the other countries who have criminalised non voting I honestly thought that MN would be much, much more pro the idea. The Belgians are hardly natural revolutionaries are they?!

Of course I would much prefer that everyone voted without this threat hanging over them but I think that it is now necessary - I have to say I have no idea what the missing 50% in GEs [or the missing 30% in the referendum which I doubt will be repeated in a hurry ....] would have voted.

I have never voted. For my own personal and spiritual based reasons. I've had people say to me "women died for the right to vote" to which I respond "no, women died so we had the right to choose to vote". I don't want to vote. Why should I be forced to? And what would be the point of me ticking a box to say I don't want to vote??

What would happen about people with severe intellectual disabilities? Would they be fined if they didn't vote? Or would they lose the right to vote?

Well, happily, I don't think those who oppose it need to worry.

One should have the freedom to vote or not to vote. Voting is not by force.

Maybe if the voting system was actually fair and invidudual votes counted.....and people actually had a choice other than the same old crap but with a slightly different spin, then more people would take an interest

The first chance I got to vote a few years ago, I fell ill with the flu. I could barely move. The ballot station is 30 seconds walk from my front door. Yet I couldn't go. Should I have been made a criminal for that?

Some people get sick, some people cannot get there, others have emergencies.

They shouldn't be made to be a criminal because of that.

Not voting doesn't equate to not giving a fuck! What bollocks is that?!

I couldn't go on the electoral register to vote because I am currently in hiding from my violent ex.

My identity can't be protected on the register, even the 'private' one.

Criminalising people for not voting is a stupid idea.

I don't see how, when cuts are being imposed in vital service areas, we can possibly see it as a good idea to put together another government department whose job (presumably) will be to chase up people to find out if they had a good enough reason for not turning up at the polling station.

I can think of a tonne of better ways to spend a few salaries than that. It's the job of the political parties to get people to the polling stations. If they fail to inspire people to go out and vote then that's down to them, not the voters.

YANBU OP. I think a small fine would increase turnout. Increasing turnout would increase the number of votes cast, not everyone compelled to vote by a small fine would spoil their ballets or choose a NOTA option.

I think the general idea in places like Australia is that the state gives an individual a significant amount of privileges but that this should be balanced with placing a certain amount of obligations on the individual as well. We already do this; where I live recycling is compulsory. The state will pick up my rubbish but I am compelled to separate it. There is rule of law and the presumption of innocence and I am compelled to do jury duty to uphold that principle. In Australia the state operates free and fair elections. In return I am compelled to vote. It is not unfair to place obligations on those in any given society in return for the privileges and freedoms also afforded by it.