> Chris Benham Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 5:29 PM > I'm not sure how well compulsory voting would transplant to other countries. > The compulsion > element could be viewed negatively compared to the ideal voluntary voting > system, but it is > vastly better than real-world voluntary voting in places like the US.
I don't think it would go down very well in the UK. I suspect that in the UK a substantial proportion of those who do not want to vote would then not register to vote. Registration is a legal requirement but substantial numbers do not (for a variety of reasons). Low turnout in the UK is strongly correlated with party, but the analysts say that the underlying driver is social class, which is of course strongly correlated with party allegiance. Even so, a within-winning-party analysis of constituency (single-member district) turnout shows a strong (statistically significant) positive relationship between marginality and turnout. The turnout is higher in the more marginal constituencies and lower where there is a "safe seat". James Gilmour ---- election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
