Compulsory voting requires electors to vote in elections or attend a polling place on voting day. With a secret ballot voters can only be compelled to cast ballots but remain free to spoil their ballot papers. If an eligible voter does not attend a polling place, he/she may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or eventually imprisonment.

History

Athenian democracy held that it was every citizen's duty to participate in decision making. Attendance at the assembly was voluntary. But Aristophanes's comedy Acharnians 17-22, in the 5th century BC, shows public slaves herding citizens from the agora into the assembly meeting place (pnyx) with a red-stained rope. Those with red on their clothes were fined.

Arguments in favour of compulsory voting

A common argument for compulsory voting is that such a system guarantees that the government represents a majority of the population, not only individuals who vote. This helps ensure that governments do not neglect sections of society that are less active politically.

It is also argued that voting is a "civic duty", like paying taxes, and is important for the harmonious functioning of a society. Political leaders of compulsory systems may also potentially claim greater political legitimacy than those of non-compulsory systems with lower voter turnout.

While the secret ballot is designed to prevent interference with the votes actually cast, the argument for compulsory voting is that it aims to prevent interference with access to the vote. It is a measure to prevent disenfranchisement of the socially disadvantaged, and mitigate the impact that external factors may have on an individual's capacity to vote (weather, transport, employer, etc). Polls are generally held on a Saturday or Sunday , to ensure that working people can fulfill their duty to cast their vote. Similarly, mobile voting booths may also be taken to old age homes and hospitals to cater for immobilized citizens, and postal voting may be provided for people who are away from their electorate on election day.

Another potential argument is that it will make people think about the tough issues more, whom might have otherwise have the option not to think because there was not vote (or at least knew they had the option to). This in turn might make governments less squeamish to bring up tough and possibly unpopular issues that need to be addressed.

Arguments against compulsory voting

A common argument against compulsory voting holds that voting is not a civic duty, but rather a civil right. While citizens may exercise their legal rights (free speech, voting, etc.) they are not compelled to. Compulsory voting can be seen as infringing a basic freedom of the citizen. Some consider the fining of recalcitrant voters to be more oppressive still.

Further, compulsory voting may infringe other basic rights. For example, most Jehovah's Witnesses believe that they should not participate in political events. Forcing them to vote would explicitly deny them their freedom of religious practice. In some countries with universal voting, Jehovah's Witnesses and others may be excused on these grounds. If however they are obliged to show up to vote, they can still use a blank or invalid vote.

Some individuals resent the idea of compulsory voting, particularly if they have no interest in politics or no knowledge of the candidates. Others may be well-informed, but have no preference for any particular candidate. Such people may vote at random simply to fulfill legal requirements: the so called donkey-vote may account for 1-2% of votes in these systems, which may affect the electoral process. Similarly, citizens may vote with a full lack of knowledge for each candidate, or purposefully skew their ballot, in order to slow the polling process or disrupt the election.

Where advocates of compulsory voting might argue that such a system has a higher degree of representation, some supporters of voluntary voting assert that low voter participation in a voluntary election is itself an expression of the citizenry's political will: it indicates satisfaction with the political establishment in an electorate. Unqualified generalizations of this sort should be treated carefully however, as low voter turn out could be interpreted by others to indicate voter dissatisfaction or general political apathy.

Effects of compulsory voting

A 2004 Australian op-ed column argued that compulsory voting may influence the focus of a campaign towards swinging voters, with candidates and political parties trying to win the votes of the undecided, rather than motivating their "base" supporters to the polls. Thus it could be argued that politicians might adopt more centrist and less extreme policies in order to appeal to the relatively small group of swinging voters, rather than to their broader base constituencies.

Countries with compulsory voting

In the past

• (U.S.) State of Georgia in 1777: Every person absenting himself from an election, and shall neglect to give in his or their ballot at such election, shall be subject to a penalty not exceeding five pounds; the mode of recovery and also the appropriation thereof, to be pointed out and directed by act of the legislature: Provided, nevertheless, That a reasonable excuse shall be admitted. ^[1]
• Austria (introduced 1929 for presidential elections and 1949 in some states for parliamentary elections, abolished step by step between 1982 and 2004)
• Netherlands (introduced 1917 along with universal suffrage, abolished 1970)
• Spain (1907-1923, but not enforced)

Now

There are currently 32 countries with compulsory voting. Of these, 19 enforce it. Of the 30 member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 10 have forms of compulsory voting.^[2]

Enforced

Countries that enforce compulsory voting:

• Argentina (compulsory for citizens between 18 and 70 years old, non-compulsory for those older than 70)
• Australia (compulsory enrollment and voting for both state^* and national elections for all adults over 18).
• Belgium
• Brazil (non-compulsory for citizens between 16 and 18 years old and those older than 70; military conscripts cannot vote)
• Chile (enrollment voluntary)
• Cyprus
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Ecuador (compulsory for citizens between 18 and 64 years old, non-compulsory for those older than 65)
• Fiji
• Lebanon (compulsory for men older than 21)
• Liechtenstein
• Nauru
• Peru (compulsory for citizens between 18 and 70 years old, non-compulsory for those older than 70)
• Singapore
• Switzerland (compulsory in the Canton of Schaffhausen only)
• Turkey
• Uruguay

^*In South Australia it is not compulsory to enroll for state elections.^[3][4][5] Nevertheless, as the enrollment form is a combined Federal/State one, with no provision to not enroll for the State,^[3] it is compulsory in effect.

Not enforced

Countries that do not enforce compulsory voting:

• Bolivia
• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic (members of the military and national police cannot vote)
• Egypt (men only)
• El Salvador
• France (Senate elections only)
• Gabon
• Greece
• Guatemala (military personnel cannot vote)
• Honduras
• India
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Mexico
• Panama
• Paraguay (compulsory for citizens between 18 and 75 years old, non-compulsory for those older than 75)
• Philippines
• Thailand
• Venezuela

Other:

• Soviet Union: while voting was not de-jure obligatory, voting was de-facto enforced.

Measures to encourage voting

Although voting in a country may be compulsory, penalties for failing to vote are not always strictly enforced. In Australia and Brazil, providing a legitimate reason for not voting (e.g. being in hospital) is accepted. In Argentina, those who were ill on voting day, or over 500 kilometers away from their voting place are also excused, by requesting a doctor to prove their condition, in the first case; or asking for a certificate at a police station near where they are, in the second case.

States that sanction non-voters with fines generally impose small or nominal penalties. However, penalties for failing to vote are not limited to fines and legal sanctions. Belgian voters who repeatedly fail to vote in elections may be subject to disenfranchisement. Goods and services provided by public offices may be denied to those failing to vote in Peru and Greece. If a Bolivian voter fails to participate in an election, the citizen may be denied withdrawal of his or her salary from the bank for three months.^[6]

In Turkey, according to a law passed by the parliament in 1986, if an eligible elector does not cast a vote in the elections, he or she has to pay a fee of about 5 YTL (3 US dollars).

Notes

External links

• International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance - Compulsory voting information
• Suffrage - ''The CIA World Factbook''
• Compulsory Voting, Not
• - ''Australian Electoral Commission - Electoral Backgrounder - Compulsory Voting''
• - ''Australian Electoral Commission'' Australian Electoral Commission
• European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Sessions of Workshops 2007, Workshop No.7: Compulsory Voting: Principle and Practice -- academic conference papers on compulsory voting

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