How do we get more people out to vote?

To post in this sub-forum you must have made 100 posts or have Trust status or have completed our ID Verification

Forums › Politics › How do we get more people out to vote?

nate

6473 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 458

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#152297 22-Sep-2014 23:21

What are your ideas for encouraging more people to vote? Online voting? Mobile voting? Mandatory voting like Australia?

Let's try and keep political party preferences out of this.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

3140 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 944

Lifetime subscriber

#1134180 22-Sep-2014 23:29

Is there any point forcing people to vote that don't wish to, that have no confidence in any party or just no interest?

Other then that making it as easy and as convenient as possible. Your ideas are good, plus I thought the early voting without having to give a reason this election was good as well.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1528

#1134181 22-Sep-2014 23:31

Kim dot Com said "not voting is like a vote for national", so I figured "well, since I want national to win, I may as well not bother voting then since it will be the same either way"

(kidding :) )

serious response:

online voting would be good, or via mobile (SMS?)

forced voting is, IMHO, a terrible idea. It's kinda the opposite of 'freedom'

hio77

'That VDSL Cat'
13036 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3896

ID Verified

Trusted

Lizard Networks

Subscriber

#1134184 22-Sep-2014 23:47

Ild love to see an online voting system come into play.

could see securing it being a bit of a concern, surely it should be no worse than doing census online though.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10207

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1134185 23-Sep-2014 00:13

Since the politicians are the ones that want votes, surely it should be up to them to get people voting for them? Not other people to worry about.

Richard rich.ms

Regs

4066 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 206

Trusted

Snowflake

#1134189 23-Sep-2014 01:43

Online would help, but probably only increase the vote participation by a part - lets say 20% (no science there). It might help those who 'forget', those who are lazy, those who are not within easy reach of a polling station. It wont make people who don't want to, or don't understand why they should, to vote.

There are probably a lot of non-voters out there who just don't understand the difference between parties/policies and feel that they are not 'clued up' enough to vote.

There are probably a bunch who felt intimidated by friends/colleagues/etc pushing their opinions on them, so refrained from voting.

I don't think there is a silver bullet, unless there is some obvious incentive for voting (e.g. cash) - but that would drive the wrong behaviour and probably randomise/polarise the 'forced' votes.

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

Regs

4066 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 206

Trusted

Snowflake

#1134190 23-Sep-2014 01:44

richms: Since the politicians are the ones that want votes, surely it should be up to them to get people voting for them? Not other people to worry about.

other people want you to vote for the party they support, in order to get/keep that party in, so it not just politicians that want votes..

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

dukester

477 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 48

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1134205 23-Sep-2014 05:44

It is my experience in life that people, weather it be voteing or complaining, dont unless they are extremely annoyed enough to make the effort. An example would be right here on Geekzone when the 1st post from a new user is a rant about some poor service they received. Yes, cough cough, red face, I was one of those.
Personally I feel you should vote, that then entitles you to complain. How to get non voters to turn out isnt going to be an easy task. There are many an varied reasons from not interested, cant be bothered, no transport, sick etc.

Batwing

692 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 224

Trusted

Subscriber

#1134206 23-Sep-2014 05:49

Though I would not use it, I'd like to see the no confidence option to at least separate out those people from the apathetic.

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 537
Inactive user

#1134208 23-Sep-2014 06:29

I think this election was great that you could vote all week at some places, I didn't really know about it but making this available and widely known will be a good start.

I don't think online voting is the option, and forcing people to vote is definitely not democratic!

DjShadow

4222 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1322

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#1134210 23-Sep-2014 06:36

1. Location of polling booths: Consider setting up in shopping malls, supermarkets, gas stations even. Put them where people usually are on a Saturday so remove the need for a special trip
2. Electronic Voting: We can do our Census online, vote for our local energy trust membership online, why not the general election?
3. Consider changing the voting system to Single Transferable vote (STV), about 7% of the party vote was wasted in the weekend because the conservative party didn't make it to 5%

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#1134216 23-Sep-2014 07:16

hio77: Ild love to see an online voting system come into play.

could see securing it being a bit of a concern, surely it should be no worse than doing census online though.

well since you can register online, theres little difference.

if registering was unsecure, I could register someone else, get their easy vote card sent to my address, take that easy vote card to a voting place on election day and vote.

stealing someones mail is a lot easier than hacking a website, so one might argue it would be more secure.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

shk292

2915 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2040

Lifetime subscriber

#1134246 23-Sep-2014 08:23

I don't see the need to get more people to vote. The elections are very well publicised, debated night and day on TV and radio for weeks in advance etc etc. Encouraging or forcing those who can't be bothered or who are too disorganised to vote with the current system would just lead to more:
- random votes
- votes based on single/selfish reasons (eg they are going to give me free internet)
- thoughtless protest votes against the current government that's forcing them to vote when they don't want to

The opportunity is there; people have made great sacrifices throughout our country's history to ensure we have free democracy. If you can't be bothered, too bad

JimmyC

726 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 82

#1134248 23-Sep-2014 08:26

Making voting easier is certainly not going to hurt. Personally however I feel Kiwi's can be an apathetic bunch. Some don't like tall poppies, some don't like people who rock the boat, and some don't like people telling them how to think. This year was unprecedented in all those categories and it clearly polarised the electorate. It mobilised some camps but in general it would seem voter apathy was at an all time high. Sometimes saying nothing at all feels as good as extending the middle finger.

That, and it was raining... we'd organised this election far enough ahead you think someone could sort out some decent weather.

bazzer

3438 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 267

Trusted

#1134250 23-Sep-2014 08:29

I don't really mind if people don't want to vote. I don't really agree with compulsory voting, I think I consider voting a right rather than a duty. What I would like to know is why people don't vote.

I wonder if those that didn't vote because there wasn't anyone that they wanted to vote would vote if they could choose "No confidence". Would they bother?

I'd like to see a whole lot of options on the ballot like Red, Blue, Green, None of the Above, Don't know, Don't care etc. That way everyone's opinion can be captured. People who don't vote because they don't think it matters or makes any difference can have that recorded. Then could we assume that all those that didn't vote are just apathetic rather than supporters of the "left"?

I wonder how that "missing million" really feel?

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1184

#1134264 23-Sep-2014 08:34

I'd like to see online voting, and it sounds like they're working towards that for the next one from my understanding. But if people really don't want to vote, don't try and force them. Though perhaps have a "No confidence in any party/candidate" type option, as suggested above, to differentiate "I couldn't be bothered" to "I actually thought about it, but felt none of them earned my 'vote'". It could be an interesting stat to see, imo.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4