Citizens can participate in democracy in various ways;
Voting system in the UK
Only those citizens aged 18 and above are eligible to vote in general elections. You need to be on the electoral register to be able to vote in elections and referendums. You are legally required to register if you meet the conditions (your 16 or over and British or national of EU or Commonwealth country), if you fail to do so you can be fined £80. While you may be legally required to be on the electoral register you are NOT legally obliged to vote.
Citizens can choose one of three methods to cast their votes:
Citizens can choose one of three methods to cast their votes:
- Voting in person at a polling station: you will receive a polling card informing you where and when you can vote. You cast your vote by filling in a ballot paper.
- Voting by post: you receive your ballot paper through the post to your home address
- Voting by proxy- you appoint someone else to vote on your behalf if you are unable to reach a polling station e.g. if you are on holiday, physically unable, working or British citizen living overseas.
There are four different voting systems that can be used to determine who we elect to represent us.
Voting systems explained
Alternative Vote Explained |
First Past the Post v AV |
|
|
The UK currently uses the Fist-pass-the-post voting system to elect its MPs. Some of the criticisms and advantages of using this voting system have been summarised below.
It should be noted that on 5 May 2011the government did hold the second UK-wide referendum in history to ask the public whether they wanted to replace the existing first-pass-the-post system with the alternative voting system. The referendum put forward the question "At present, the UK uses the 'first past the post' system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the 'alternative vote' system be used instead'? Yes or no?". The 41% of voters who casted their vote, 32.1% voted yes and 67.9% voted no.
Should voting be made compulsory?
As mentioned previously citizens in the UK are not legally complied to vote.
The graph above illustrates the percentage of registered voters that cast their vote in the general elections between 1945 and 2010. The sharpest decrease in turnout percentage was between 1992 and 2001 that saw a drop of 19% from 78% in 1992 to 59% in 2010. Since 2001 turnout percentage has been steadily increasing but was still only 65% in 2010. |
|
There has since been discussion on whether voting should be made compulsory. The table below highlights the two main arguments;
Should voting be lowered to 16?
A citizen in the UK can only cast their vote if they are 18 or over. This age limit was introduced in the 1970s before which you had to be 21 or over to vote. Debate regarding age limit in voting resurfaced around September 2013, when the Labour Party leader Ed Milliband vowed to lower the voting age to 16 in England and Wales.
Another argument which has been made against lowering the age limit on voting is that voting is not the only form of political participation. Those under the age of 18 can take part in democratic society through various methods which range in the amount of involvement needed. Some of these form of participation are listed below;
- Campaigning
- Raising awareness and funds
- Collecting signatures for a petition
- Lobbying or writing letters to voice their concerns and opinions
- Direct action in the form of protests