With word coming in that the average turn-out of voters for the Assembly election is hitting around 54%, while in 2017 it hit around 64%, an obvious thought occurs: why is it that nearly half the eligible population doesn’t bother to vote? More important, can anything be done about this?
To answer the first question:the respectable explanation would be that should potential voters have scanned the various political parties’ manifestoes and can find none who addresses their interests.
Personally, I think the respectable explanation is freshly-delivered faeces. How could anyone find nothing in the many manifestoes promising this, that and the other? Maybe it is that the stay-at-home voters don’t believe the politicians will deliver. Really? All of them?? Delivering none of their promises??? That’s like saying “I don’t like actors” or “I don’t like drivers of heavy goods vehicles”. Sorry, makes no sense.
OK – so what should we do? Well, we might have a major programme of public education, impressing on people how important it is to vote. Or we could make it a part of the curriculum in schools, with real attention paid to the notion of voting or not voting.
But I’m afraid I’d see all that as a back-up. The fact is, we don’t ‘encourage’ people to drive on the correct side of the road. We insist that they do, and if they don’t they get fined or worse. Likewise with sending your children to school: you might claim they’re your children, you’ve a right to decide, but the authorities will tell you differently. Fail to send your child to school and you will be penalised. And when people get paid at the end of the week or month, we don’t appeal to them “Please, would you consider giving some of that salary to help pay for the running of society?” If you don’t pay your taxes- and the vast majority of people do – you will be fined heavily or even imprisoned. Why? Because no man or woman is an island. We belong to one another, agus tá muid is fearr le ceile – working together is best.
Anyone who doesn’t vote is essentially saying “I’m too dim or maybe too lazy or maybe both, to cast my vote. I’ll allow other people to make decisions that will affect me.” Since voting is permitted only for adults, and that response is the response of a child, and a not very bright one at that, I’d urge that we follow the example of Australia, of Belgium, of Argentina, of Greece, of Mexico, and that of many other countries. There, like paying your taxes, voting is mandatory. The sooner we do likewise the better.
It’d be an infringement of personal liberty? Hah. I remember the time when some people – right-wingers, usually – argued against making the wearing of seatbelts mandatory. Some things in life matter so much, they simply must happen.
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