Zizi Sparks: Why voting should be made compulsory

Voter turnout jumped 30 per cent in Australia when it was made compulsory. Photo / Electoral Commission

OPINION

If early vote turnout is anything to go by, we could be looking at a bigger turnout this general election than previous years.

But it is time to ask ourselves just how much of a turnout do we want and need and how do we make it happen?

In 2014, 76.77 per cent of the 3.1 million New Zealanders enrolled cast a ballot.

In 2017, that number was 79.01 per cent - a slight increase but the non-voters totalled more than 692,000.

So is there an argument for making voting compulsory to get hundreds of thousands more voters to the polls?

In New Zealand, it is compulsory to register to vote but voting itself is optional.

Across the ditch, compulsory voting for national elections was introduced in Australia in 1924. Failure to comply once and you risk a measly $20 fine. Do it again and it's $50.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission, voter turnout in 1922 was 57.95 per cent for the Senate and 59.38 for the House of Representatives.

The year after the introduction of compulsory voting that had soared to 91.31 and 91.38 respectively.

In the almost-100 years since then, it has never dropped below 91 per cent.

This is despite the fact the fine for not complying is less than what you might spend on a dinner out or new T-shirt.

In my view, there's no excuse not to vote, but I think those who don't probably just don't have an opinion on which aspiring MP or which political party to vote for.

And making voting compulsory isn't going to magically make people have informed opinion but it could force people to become more informed and then make a decision.

So let's do it. Let's make voting compulsory, but that's not all we should do. Let's ramp up our voting campaigns. The Electoral Commission does a lot but it shouldn't just be the commission's responsibility.

Schools should teach children what MMP is, get them involved and enrolled before leaving school.

Workplaces should ensure employees are enrolled. Maybe a workplace outing to vote is called for, bring up politics in the lunchroom, put up an Electoral Commission poster encouraging people to seek out more information.

We, as a news outlet do our best. We collate the information, we portray the views, but we can't force you to pick it up, digest it, decide and take action.

That's up to you.