With voter turnout unequal and at a near-historic low, the Constitution Society’s Dr David Klemperer makes the case for compulsory voting
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.
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