Mary Minihan: How compulsory voting would change Irish political landscape

Imagine what kind of Ireland we would have if all those who tend not to vote came out and made their voices heard in the upcoming general election. If large numbers of people who are struggling financially, are apathetic or simply too busy, participated for a change, it would be a huge wake-up call to politicians used to pandering to small sectoral interests. But the reality is most politicians know the estates, apartment blocks and homes where nonvoters live, and they tend to give them a wide berth when the time to canvass comes around.

Politicians and their associates pay local authorities for access to the so-called marked register, available for six months after every election, revealing the names and addresses of those who have voted and those who have not.

If you want to know how much the register costs – it is available to anyone who wants to purchase it for a fee – you’ll have to decipher a bamboozling extract from the Electoral Act 1992.

“The fee for a copy of the register or draft register or any part thereof shall be fifty pence plus the sum of ten pence for each one hundred by which the number of persons in the register or draft register or part thereof exceeds one hundred.”

Anyhow, local authorities destroy their hard copies once the six months have passed, but the local constituency organisations of political parties computerise this valuable information to maintain a record stretching back over many elections.

Individuals and households who do not vote for anyone can therefore be identified. And because they do not turn up at the polling booths, these “no-shows” do not matter to the politicians.

Canvassers are often encouraged to plan their route on the basis of the marked register, to avoid wasting time on a nonvoter’s doorstep.

Politicos say they are just being practical and pragmatic. But for all their talk about encouraging more people to exercise their democratic franchise, the idea of introducing compulsory voting fills many of our politicians with horror.

The knee-jerk reaction to the concept is that it smacks of Big Brother government. Forcing people to engage with politics when they are not interested could prove counterproductive, runs the argument.

Psyche

The man with responsibility for all things electoral, Minister for the Environment

Alan Kelly

, has looked into his heart and decided the Irish people would not tolerate compulsory voting. He said so during a debate on the formation of the long-awaited

Electoral Commission

back in March.

“Given the psyche of the Irish people, forcing them to do something in any way, shape or form would not be a very good idea. If we try to force people to vote, they will not do so.”

But not everyone sees it that way.

I travelled to Wales recently to interview former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, now out of politics and on a visit to the land of her birth. She described herself as a "big advocate" of compulsory voting.

“If you choose to write a rude word on your ballot paper and put it in the ballot box then you can. So it doesn’t force you to vote, but overwhelmingly people do enrol to vote,” she said.

Those who do not register to vote or go to the polls risk getting caught and fined, she said.

"What it means is our politics always ends up being about the mainstream. So it's not a question of what small, motivated constituency can you get out to disproportionately vote. It really is a question of what Mr and Mrs Average think, and I think that's a good thing."

Australia had been able to tackle sensitive issues such as gun control in a "rational" way because mainstream thinking dominated the political system, Gillard said.

She contrasted this with the apparently neverending struggle in the US, where “a small motivated minority speak so loudly in a system of voluntary voting”.

Thankfully, we in Ireland do not have to grapple with issues such as gun control, but think of the long-neglected political nettles that could finally be grasped if noisy vested interest groups did not have disproportionate influence over our politicians.

Turnout

Barely half of us bothered to vote in last year’s local and European elections. Turnout increased by a tiny 2 per cent between the 2007 and 2011 general elections, despite the catastrophic events that happened in the intervening years.

Many of those who do not vote, for whatever reason, fail to realise their own power to dictate politicians’ behaviour.

A surge in the youth vote is given credit for the high 60.52 per cent turnout in the same-sex marriage referendum.

Can we be sure the young will remain motivated and engaged when attention turns to the less emotional, less inspirational general election?

This Big Sister would certainly be in favour of giving compulsory voting a try.

Mary Minihan is a member of The Irish Times political staff. Una Mullally is on leave