There is a debate going on in political circles about whether voters should be given some form of incentive to vote, whether in the form of an enticement (a $20 gift card) or enforcement (here's your $20 fine in the mail for not voting).
As a BBC report on compulsory voting explained, there are 23 countries in the world with mandatory voting laws, although only 10 of those countries enforce those rules. One of them is Australia, which has had mandatory voting on the books for more than 100 years. Residents who don't vote get a $20 fine.
In the last federal election, 94 per cent of Australians visited the polls, although critics say the number is misleading because a substantial portion of the adult population, particularly in the 18-24 demographic, aren't registered to vote in the first place.
The paradox of mandatory voting in a democracy is plain to see. In a free society, how does it make sense to force people, under the threat of punishment - financial or otherwise, to take part in the democratic process?
Put another way, however, that paradox hammers home the notion that freedom isn't free. The freedoms enjoyed in a constitutional democracy like Canada also come with responsibilities, which include voting, paying taxes, abiding by the law, serving on a jury when called and possible military service in times of war.
Rather than using the stick to get voters to take part, some jurisdictions are trying carrots.
In Los Angeles, city council is currently studying a motion that would offer a cash prize or a series of cash prizes for voters picked through a lottery or a raffle. Under such a plan, the vast majority of voters would receive no financial reward or anything else of value for voting, except for the small odds of winning a substantial cash prize. The winner, of course, would get thousands of dollars, whatever the prize was, for the sole reason of having taken part in an election.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, since the percentage of eligible voters in Los Angeles who bother to take part in civic elections is in the high teens and low 20s. That's not much worse than the 28.8 per cent voter turnout seen in the 2011 municipal elections in Prince George.
In B.C., Section 151 of the Local Government Act forbids an "inducement" to voters, which is "money, gift, valuable consideration, refreshment, entertainment, office, placement, employment and any other benefit of any kind" that would either encourage them to vote or stay away from the polls.
Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, the authors of Nudge, propose a simpler and more dignified solution to increase voter turnout.
They point to a study from Minnesota where researchers were trying to help government come up with the best way to get people to file their taxes on time. One group was told taxes are good because they pay for schools, hospitals, roads and other worthy things. One group was told of the serious fines for not filing taxes. Another group was told of the help available to fill out tax forms. Finally, another group was told that 90 per cent of Minnesota residents file their taxes in full before the deadline. When researchers followed up, the only group that had increased filing their taxes on time was the last one.
They cite another study that just asking people the day before an election if they intended to vote increased the likelihood of them voting by 25 per cent.
In other words, more people will engage in an activity if it's top of mind and they know other people are doing it, too.
With these weekly editorials, the "Your Vote Matters" page now live on our website and other awareness efforts we'll be launching soon, The Citizen is trying to boost voter turnout in the 2014 election to 50 per cent.
Following Thaler and Sunstein's example, we hope our coverage of the election gets everyone thinking and talking about the election, which then leads to an increased turnout by residents at the polls.
