Compulsory voting?

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Should voting in the UK be made compulsory?

Poll ended at Thu Feb 05 2015 2:05pm

Yes
6
35%
No
9
53%
Abstain
2
12%
Do not give a ****
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 17

1960mackem
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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by 1960mackem » Thu Jan 29 2015 4:15pm

[/quote] Which gives me an idea :idea: maybe I should create a poll for imutual to allow paper voting.[/quote]

Cracking idea - send your answer on a £20 note to Torus c/o Imutual :lol:

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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by timco » Thu Jan 29 2015 4:42pm

I abstained on the basis that if they had compulsory attendance, as opposed to compulsory voting, they would have to include a no vote or none of the above option and if this wins the majority they should hold the ballot again with different candidates.

I can see no reason for people to be lazy you should attend and at least spoil the ballot paper not bothering to go is a very poor show indeed.
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Prawn_Lover
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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by Prawn_Lover » Thu Jan 29 2015 6:47pm

Not voting is a way of voicing your opinion as well.....
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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by Luke_PieStalker » Thu Jan 29 2015 8:00pm

Im not sure the inclusion of millions of new people who can not even spell the word vote being shoehorned into voting booths in their dressing gowns will benefit democracy in the UK.
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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by kevinchess1 » Thu Jan 29 2015 10:15pm

Prawn_Lover wrote:Not voting is a way of voicing your opinion as well.....

Which could be accommodated by having 'Abstain' on the ballet
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blythburgh
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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by blythburgh » Fri Jan 30 2015 7:17am

Prawn_Lover wrote:Not voting is a way of voicing your opinion as well.....
No, it is not, it is a way of saying I do not care enough to vote, rather than saying I do not like any of the candidates/parties standing.

Women suffered and even died so that I could vote. I always go to the polling booths but on occasion I have put none of the above on the paper. Or as at the election for the police commissioner wrote "waste of money" on the ballot paper.

I have been to the count checking that those counting the votes have not put a ballot paper in the wrong place. I know my spoiled paper will be put to one side and basically ignored. But I have shown that I cared enough in democracy to vote but was not happy with the choice before me.

Electronic voting is open to even worse abuse than postal voting.

I once was telling at an election and an elderly lady asked if she could be driven home. I did so and the representatives of the other parties gave me the electoral roll numbers of those who voted. The parties need them as back at HQ they have a list of those who said they would vote for them or may vote for them. The tellers papers are collected regularly and the numbers checked against the list of people yes or maybe voters. If the number comes up that name is crossed off. If it is not on the list it is ignored. Later in the day the possible voters who have not voted will get a phone call or a knock on the door to remind them of the importance of voting.

Anyway to get back to the elderly lady. She lived in sheltered accommodation, I am pretty sure she was a committed Tory voter. She claimed the warden was a Labour party member who stood over the people as they did their postal votes. Hard not to vote Labour in those circumstances.

And it has been proven that electoral fraud has taken place with postal votes. Rare but it has happened. And again if you live with others you have not necessarily got the freedom to vote in private. I have heard of people who live in abusive relationships where the dominant partner tells the other who to vote for. In the privacy of the booth they put their cross anywhere but where they tell the partner they did.

Electonic voting leaves the system open to far more abuse from the public and those who behind the system.
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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by Boro Boy » Fri Jan 30 2015 8:59pm

Prawn_Lover wrote:Not voting is a way of voicing your opinion as well.....

A good way of looking at it! The only way "all Politicians" will realise something is wrong - when nobody turns up to vote for them.....

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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by kevinchess1 » Fri Jan 30 2015 10:45pm

Prawn_Lover wrote:Not voting is a way of voicing your opinion as well.....
Yes if you make a conscious decision not too
if you consider all the candidates and reject them all then fair enough
But a lot of non voters haven't got a clue whose standing :thumbdown:
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Boro Boy
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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by Boro Boy » Sat Jan 31 2015 12:03am

kevinchess1 wrote:
Prawn_Lover wrote:Not voting is a way of voicing your opinion as well.....
Yes if you make a conscious decision not too
if you consider all the candidates and reject them all then fair enough
But a lot of non voters haven't got a clue whose standing :thumbdown:

One way of looking at it I guess a few couldn't care less but I'm guessing that a great amount don't vote because they don't think it will make any difference to their lives who wins.......

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Re: Compulsory voting?

Post by Richard Frost » Sat Jan 31 2015 8:24am

Boro Boy wrote:
kevinchess1 wrote:
Prawn_Lover wrote:Not voting is a way of voicing your opinion as well.....
Yes if you make a conscious decision not too
if you consider all the candidates and reject them all then fair enough
But a lot of non voters haven't got a clue whose standing :thumbdown:
One way of looking at it I guess a few couldn't care less but I'm guessing that a great amount don't vote because they don't think it will make any difference to their lives who wins.......
Ah yes maybe they do think like that. The problem is it does make a difference. A Labour government will be very different from a Conservative one in the same way that a coalition will be very different from one that gets an outright majority. If you think the government does not make a difference to your life, you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

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