Ways to improve voter participation
A commendable 82% of those questioned said they had done their civic duty and voted in February’s general election. Unfortunately, the truth is that the turnout was 70%.
But that is a lie too, because voter turnout is measured as a percentage of all those registered to vote. If it was measured as a percentage of all those eligible to register to vote it would be about 65%.
And while two thirds of the electorate giving up their time to cast a ballot is not a shameful record, it is not the greatest either. Especially not for a country that prides itself on having a rapacious appetite for politics.
It is not simply that the one in three who did not vote abstained because they could not be bothered. One third said practical obstacles prevented from them ticking a box on the day.
They were either away from home on polling day, had difficulty getting to the polling station or lived too far from it. That disability or lack of transport should deprive someone of their vote is unacceptable, as is the exclusion of people who, for work or other reasons, simply can not make it back to their home constituency in time.
It creates an argument for e-voting. Not e-counting of votes, which is a different matter, but the use of electronic voting cards, websites or telephone codes so that people could vote from home, abroad or on the road.
There would be identity and security issues, but the banks are facilitating the remote transfer of uncountable millions of euro through electronic means so we can presume there is a safe way of transferring votes too.
Leaving aside that admittedly cash-consuming idea, there are other ways of increasing turnout. One of them is weekend voting. An analysis of voter participation in the presidential election has yet to be carried out, but it took place on a Thursday and the turnout was just 56%.
Almost half of those who did not vote last February were aged 18-34 — the age group most likely to be away at college or working away from home — and that election was held on a Friday.
It would not be surprising if the non-voting rate in this group was even higher in last month’s election, given that it was held mid-week.
What we can do about the 11% of non-voters who said they ignored the ballot box because of disinterest or the 10% who blamed disillusionment with politics is a trickier question, but perhaps there is comfort to be taken from the lie at the start of the survey.
If people are too ashamed to admit they did not vote, it means they are not entirely lost to the cause yet.
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