One of the best things about Australia is compulsory voting for all citizens. America should think about this as a way of ensuring its democracy is secure. You can always write something wrong if you don’t want your vote counted. #CompulsoryVoting.

Listening to the byelection marketing, from the likes of Polanski and Farage it seems the people who actually live in Garton have been forgotten. The way to change that is to change the way democracy works in this country. #PR, caps on donations, #Sortition, #compulsoryvoting, ease of #recall.

#PR can improve fairness, but it still leaves power inside party machines. #Compulsoryvoting changes turnout, not control. #Sortition changes who sits in the room. #Citizensjuries pull decisions back into public view. Less insider rule. More trust.

Sortition - Wikipedia

Until we change the way democracy works we are doomed to this corruption. It’s not just #PR its #compulsoryvoting, it’s involving more young people, the biggest advance would be #sortition to involve all kinds of people by lot en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition

Support
#AutomaticVoterRegistration and
#CompulsoryVoting

Faut-il rendre le vote obligatoire en France ? Atteinte à la liberté individuelle fondamentale pour les uns, remède à l’abstention pour les autres, le vote obligatoire est loin de faire consensus en France, où il est ponctuellement débattu. En imp...

Mon interview sur le vote obligatoire pour le média digital USBEK et RICA et le magasin FUTUR #CompulsoryVoting

usbeketrica.com/fr/article/f...

"Forcing People to Vote Doesn’t Change the Outcome"

www.chicagobooth.edu/review/forci...

#CompulsoryVoting #Voting #Elections

“Past Present Future” Podcast from the UK on Compulsory Voting The “Past Present Future” podcast is hosted by David Runciman, former Professor of Politics at Cambridge University and one of the more erudite and readable writers on politics and poli…

Antony Green on #CompulsoryVoting:

"...it is nice to be reminded by overseas commentators that compulsory voting allows Australian political parties to build winning political platforms around appealing to younger and less advantaged groups in society."

antonygreen.com.au/past-present...

That is the problem with choosing to vote OR NOT!
#CompulsoryVoting means ALL have to make a Democratic Choice.
Hmmm, maybe that's why RepubliKKKans don't like it? 🙄
People would still have the right to vote INFORMAL & that is easy to do!

Abetted by the fact voting is not compulsory. If every citizen voted as part of their civic duty, the battle to feed MAGA would end. Be like Australia-> require all citizens to vote. #compulsoryvoting @deskatcat.bsky.social

Australia here.
We Call Bullshit.
#CompulsoryVoting
#ActualRealChecksAndBalances

Job Opportunity: Campaign Manager, Campaign for Compulsory Voting - The Constitution Society The Constitution Society is seeking to a hire a Campaign Manager for the Campaign for Compulsory Voting in 2025.

🚨 The Constitution Society hiring a Campaign Manager to lead the Campaign for Compulsory Voting.🚨 London. Salary: £36,000 per annum. Full details of the position and application are available at: https://consoc.org.uk/campaign-manager-advert/ #PoliticalJobs #CompulsoryVoting #Hiring #UKPolitics

British democracy is broken – and that is why we are launching the campaign for Compulsory Voting With voter turnout unequal and at a near-historic low, the Constitution Society's Dr David Klemperer makes the case for compulsory voting TweetShareWhatsAppMail **_Dr David Klemperer is a Research Fellow on electoral reform at the Constitution Society, an independent educational charity that promotes public understanding of the British Constitution. He is also a co-editor of _Renewal_ , a journal of social democracy._** Democracy depends on elections. In a democracy, elections based on universal suffrage provide the central mechanism for linking citizens to the state, and for ensuring that governments are incentivised to serve the interests of the public. When voters cease to participate, this mechanism breaks down, and democracy ceases to work as it should. The result is democratic crisis. Here in the UK, we now face just such a democratic crisis. At the last general election in July 2024, turnout amongst registered voters fell to a near-historic low of 59.7%. Taking into account gaps in registration, the IPPR suggests that barely more than half of eligible voters cast a ballot. This low turnout is also unequal turnout, with some demographic groups participating at much higher rates than others. Data from Ipsos-Mori suggests that at the last general election, turnout was more than 10 points higher amongst white voters than ethnic minorities, more than 20 points higher amongst upper-class voters than working-class voters, and more than 30 points higher amongst over-65s than under-65s and amongst homeowners than renters. In a new report published by the Constitution Society, I set out how these disparities in turnout are dangerously warping UK politics, and contributing to high inequality, low growth, and growing dissatisfaction with democracy. The report argues that low and unequal turnout have left the UK with an “unrepresentative electorate” – one that is notably richer, older, whiter and more secure than the UK population at large. The effect of this unrepresentative electorate is to create warped incentives for our politicians – in particular those in government, who are pushed to prioritise the interests of high-turnout demographics in pursuit of winning re-election. Specifically, these turnout disparities have in recent decades incentivised governments to disproportionately prioritise the interests of an older, economically-insulated minority at the expense of the wider public. The result has been distributional decisions favouring the old over the young, and macro-economic choices favouring asset prices over economic growth. The inequality and stagnation generated by these choices have in turn contributed to the rising dissatisfaction with democracy that is one of the primary drivers of low turnout. The UK thus risks becoming trapped in a vicious cycle of democratic decay, in which falling turnout creates increasingly warped incentives for politicians, leading to worsening socio- economic outcomes that in turn drive voter turnout ever further downwards. As this vicious cycle progressively builds up a pool of alienated non-voters disconnected from the democratic process, it creates a political opportunity for unscrupulous right-wing populists, who are able to present themselves as the challengers to an out-of-touch political class that is failing to deliver for the public. Democratic reformers need to face up to this challenge. Although the changes most often proposed to UK elections – such as automatic voter registration, votes at 16, or the introduction of proportional representation – have been shown to have some effect on turnout, none has been shown to boost turnout sufficiently to counter the effects of this vicious cycle. It is for this reason that the Constitution Society has supported the creation of a new Campaign for Compulsory Voting, which exists to argue for the one reform that has been reliably demonstrated to both dramatically increase and significantly equalise turnout. Specifically, our campaign is calling for the introduction of an “Australian-style” system of compulsory voting, in which a legal duty to vote would be enforced by the penalty of a small fine for non-voting. While voters would still have the right to actively abstain (whether by spoiling their ballot, or by voting for a new “None of the Above” option), it would be obligatory to cast a ballot. Compulsory voting is currently used in 22 democracies across the world, including Australia, Belgium, Uruguay, Chile, and Brazil. The evidence is clear that it is highly effective in boosting turnout, with countries like Australia regularly seeing turnout rates above 90%. Moreover, this high turnout is in effect more equal turnout, since when turnout is almost universal, there is little scope for demographic disparities in participation. Crucially, international evidence suggests that the higher and more equal turnout produced by compulsory voting also has a beneficial down-stream impact on social, political, and economic outcomes: compulsory voting has been associated lower inequalities in income and wealth, higher levels of social investment, and greater satisfaction with democracy. Compulsory voting thus offers a means of breaking the vicious cycle: by drastically increasing turnout it, it can significantly improve the incentives facing politicians. This in turn helps to generate better policy, and to address the root causes of democratic discontent. Compulsory voting is not a new idea in British politics. It has in the past been endorsed by political titans like Winston Churchill, and in the early 2000s it was actively pushed by politicians like Peter Hain, Tom Watson, and David Blunkett, and by think tanks like the IPPR. The last years have seen renewed interest in the idea: it has recently been discussed by think tanks like Demos, popular podcasts like “The Rest is Politics”, and in 2023 a “Civic duty to vote” Bill was debated in the Senedd Cymru. Today, YouGov polling conducted for the Constitution Society shows that a plurality of the public would favour the introduction of compulsory voting – with 48% expressing support, and only 42% opposed. Our campaign – which brings together Westminster parliamentarians, devolved legislators, academics, and democracy activists from across the four nations of the United Kingdom – intends to build on this renewed interest in and openness to compulsory voting. We hope to respond to growing concerns about the health of UK democracy by building a political consensus for compulsory voting as an essential part of the solution to the UK’s democratic malaise. History shows that when new groups of people are brought into the electorate, the knock-on effects can be profound. Women’s suffrage, the extension of the franchise to the working classes, and the introduction of civil rights in the United States all changed whose votes politicians were forced to compete for, and thus whose interests they felt the need to serve. In the UK today, compulsory voting offers a way out of the vicious cycle of democratic decay. By mandating and enforcing universal electoral participation, we can reconnect disillusioned non-voters with the democratic process, and force our politics to start better serving their interests. You can read the full report here. _Left Foot Forward doesn't have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you. You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today. _ Donate today ### Related posts: 1. Political parties should be fixing our broken democracy. This is how they can do it. 2. Make democracy great again: Here’s how we can restore trust in politics 3. We can’t tackle the climate crisis without voting reform 4. Revealed: Millions of foreign citizens excluded from voting in the UK due to complex voting rules Comments are closed.

Yes to this!

leftfootforward.org/2025/07/british-democrac...

#UKPolitics #Politics #CompulsoryVoting #Voting

Compulsory voting would be revolutionary in the UK. It's the only way we'd have a hope of doing anything about the massive inequity in whom benefits most from government. Representation is massively skewed towards older people. It's lazy to just say "they should vote".

#UKPolitics #CompulsoryVoting

Join the conversation: Should voting be compulsory? openDemocracy readers share their thoughts on whether compulsory voting would improve democracy

with the Right-Wing stomping to power with smaller percentages every election, the UK needs two reforms to bolster #Electoral fairness & representation: #ProportionalRepresentation & #COMPULSORYVoting

www.opendemocracy.net/en/readers-t...

A Gen Z gender divide is reshaping democracy around the world In democracies worldwide, a political gender divide is intensifying among Gen Z voters. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

"In Australia, which went to the polls this month, the Gen Z war did not play out at the ballot box. There was no clear divergence, with #CompulsoryVoting perhaps helping to explain why radicalised #GenderPolitics have not taken root."
#democracy
www.straitstimes.com/asia/how-a-g...

Umm, #CompulsoryVoting in #Oz you missed. That is the #RealDifference Don't Vote = Get Fined. The #DemocracySausages are just a #Bonus

When turnout is so low, all the ‘analysis’ is meaningless: democracy has become ‘here’s what a minority of un-busy people decided to think last Thursday ….’
#compulsoryvoting

"The system, known as #compulsoryvoting, was first implemented a century ago, in 1925. Turnout skyrocketed immediately, from 60 percent in 1922 to 91 percent in 1925. And it has since stayed at roughly that level—which far surpasses U.S. voter participation."

My husband always votes on the day because of the #DemocracySausage. So glad that we have #compulsoryvoting and #democracy in #Australia. #AusPol

Just heard about #compulsoryvoting in #Australia. Such a brilliant idea I have to wonder why no other country (I'm thinking about you #USA and #UK) don't institute the same policy.

Democracy sausage - Wikipedia

I think we should have this in Scotland, be it links or slice. I laughed my arse off, but I think it's a great promo. Only Aussies have the humour like Scots do @johnswinney.bsky.social
#CompulsoryVoting

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democra...

109%! Enough Australians are lazy enough that they wouldn’t vote if they didn’t have to and then we would find ourselves in exactly the same disaster zone as the USA. #CompulsoryVoting #Auspol #AusVote2025.

Keep on doing what you've always done, and you'll keep on getting what you've always got.

Vote 1 Greens, Teals and Independents, and get the change we need.

#auspol2025 #auspol #climatecrisis #environment #preferentialvoting #compulsoryvoting #democracysausage

What % of these people have #electionregret or didn’t vote? Might be time for a chat about #compulsoryvoting USA

What % of these people have #electionregret or didn’t vote? Might be time for a chat about #compulsoryvoting USA

What % of these people have #electionregret or didn’t vote? Might be time for a chat about #compulsoryvoting USA

What % of these people have #electionregret or didn’t vote? Might be time for a chat about #compulsoryvoting USA

What % of these people have #electionregret or didn’t vote? Might be time for a chat about #compulsoryvoting USA

What % of these people have #electionregret or didn’t vote? Might be time for a chat about #compulsoryvoting USA