Suffrage

• How can UK suffrage be improved?

  • Compulsory voting.
  • Automatic Voter Registration.
  • Electronic Democracy.
  • Lowering voting age to 16.
• Compulsory voting to improve suffrage

  • Advantages; Voter turnout will rise; governments getting elected have more legitimacy as they are chosen by a big majority of the population; more political education would take place.
  • Disadvantages; People not politically-literate would be forced to vote; people might throw away their vote or spoil their ballot in protest; argument that there is an inherent right to not vote.
• Automatic Voter Registration to improve suffrage

  • Advantages; 'Opt out' rather than 'Opt in' ; Easier to vote ;Quicker to participate through voting; more environmentally friendly.
  • Disadvantages; people might see it as being 'locked in'; some do not wish to be identified as voters; errors and hacking could become more common.
• Electronic Democracy to improve suffrage

  • Advantages; little to no effort required so no excuse for lack of participation; produces quicker results; young people can participate.
  • Disadvantages; technical problems could occur; easier to rig; system could confuse older voters; some people do not have access to internet; unable to spoil your vote; expensive for some.
• Lowering the voting age to 16 to improve suffrage

  • Advantages; young people are more politically-aware and educated; better balance in decisionmaking; encourage young people to vote throughout their lives; social media increases access to current political debate; more citizens to vote = greater legitimacy; 16 year olds have other civic duties such as military service and paying taxes.
  • Disadvantages; issues could be too complex for young; perhaps young voters would rather express their views in other ways such as protests; arguably do not have a large stake in society such as property owners.