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Myths and misunderstandings of PR/STV

Why the Conservatives are wrong about boundary equalisation

Why Labour are wrong about the dual candidacy question

What went wrong at the local elections

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Turnout: a very important way of measuring no-one's-quite-sure-what

Lord Lipsey: change the system and up the turnout

And finally, What our leader thinks of electoral reform

« The shorter ippr report on compulsory voting | Main | The New Statesman: spot on »

May 03, 2006

Compulsory voting - an academic speaks

"My basic contention is simple: people vote in order to affect the output of government in ways that are meaningful to them. Low turnout thus reflects a paucity of choices or a lack of evident connection between electoral choice and policy change. Raising turnout by making it compulsory does not directly affect either of these critical variables but may mask their effects." —Mark N. Franklin, "Electoral Engineering and Cross-National Turnout Differences: What Role for Compulsory Voting?" British Journal of Political Science, Volume 29, 1999, pp205-216

Posted by pauldavies on May 03, 2006

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