Mobilising the youth vote: The future of British democracy

Abstract

Despite the slight increase recorded at the 2005 poll, turnout at British national elections continues to be low. Although this small rise may have given some observers cause for optimism, it is worth noting that it was driven by the increased voting participation of baby boomers whereas the youth vote declined to well below the fifty percent mark. This is worrying because it augurs ill for the future of British democracy. Although the low voting turnout of the young was once dismissed as merely a life-cycle phenomenon, this no longer appears to be true with the early low participation habits of young people apparently becoming entrenched over time. In Britain a number of reforms have been instituted to stem the tide of electoral demobilisation but none have been particularly successful. Since such piecemeal reforms seem unable to solve the problem, we advocate compulsory voting as the most reliable means of raising voting participation. And, as we show, compulsory voting has a good chance of being adopted in Britain due to its growing popularity with both policy makers and the public.