Radical fine plan to boost election turnout

By James Lyons
Mirror.co.uk
Apr. 09, 2008

People who fail to vote at elections could be fined under controversial new proposals being studied by justice minister Jack Straw.

It is one of a series of radical reforms being considered to boost flagging election turnouts.

More than one in three voters snubbed the 2005 general election.

And MPs are concerned that unless the falling turnout trend is reversed it will undermine the principle that governments rule in the name of the British people.
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In Australia non-voters are fined up to £30 unless they register in advance as someone who objects to voting on religious grounds. Labour chief whip Geoff Hoon is said to be in favour of fining non-voters. And polling experts reckon Labour would benefit more than the Tories or Lib-Dems.

But welfare minister James Plaskitt warned it could backfire.

He said: "In a democracy the freedom not to choose is as important as the freedom to make a choice.

"Parties need to put up proposals to win over voters otherwise you can get a grudging democracy which I don't think is good." And he warned that extremist parties like the BNP could end up benefiting. He said: "If you are forcing people to vote they may say I'll teach you a lesson by voting for someone you don't like."

Shami Chakrabarti of civil rights group Liberty said: "It would be a sad indictment of politics in the oldest democracy if the only way they could persuade us to vote is under threat of criminal sanction."

Other proposals in Mr Straw's reform package include holding elections at weekends and allowing voters a "second preference" vote if their first choice candidate fared badly. The most recent poll on compulsory voting showed the public were narrowly opposed by 49 per cent to 47 per cent.












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