Time for compulsory voting: mayors
Compulsory voting should be extended to local government to combat voter apathy, says the Lord Mayor and the President of the Local Government Association.
Their call comes after Electoral Commissioner Kay Mousley expressed deep concern that less than 25 per cent of ballot papers had been returned, just days before postal voting closes for local government elections around the state.
“Time is running out to have a say on what happens in your community,” she said.
“Based on our current tracking, we’re headed for a voting rate of around 30 per cent across the State, which is lower than previous elections.”
Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said there were many reasons for the low ballot return rate of ballots this time around.
“There wouldn’t be one simple explanation,” he said. “I think from international property ownership to interstate ownership, the mobile nature of the city residential community as well as people travelling and not being able to cast an absentee vote … and ultimately, (voting) not being compulsory.
“It does suggest a serious review of how local government voting is undertaken.
“I think we need to be looking at compulsory voting and digitised voting.”
Local Government Association president and Prospect mayor David O’Loughlin agreed.
You might like
“No-one has given me a reason why all levels of government shouldn’t be the same,” he told InDaily.
“If compulsory voting is good enough for two out of three (tiers of government) why isn’t it good enough for three out of three?
“If voluntary voting is alright at the local level, why is it not alright at the state or federal levels?
“If you want to get higher voter turnout, let’s have compulsory voting.”
O’Loughlin, who was a Labor candidate for the state seat of Adelaide in March, rejected the idea that compulsory voting at the local level would make local government more partisan.
“Local government is already full of people that have a higher level of political engagement,” he said.
O’Loughlin also encouraged voters in the current round of elections to “pull your finger out” and vote.
“Just make the effort,” he said.
“Nothing affects your house prices more than the decisions of your local council.”
Lord Mayoral candidate Kelly Henderson said she wanted local government elections to happen concurrently with state government elections.
“I believe that would improve voter turnout even if (voting) still was voluntary,” she said.
“There are a whole lot of issues with the current postal voting system, and that it’s not a one-day election system.”
Stay informed, daily
Fellow candidate Martin Haese expressed disappointment in the current rate of voter turnout and encouraged everyone to return their papers.
“I really hope that we beat four years ago in terms of participation rate. I’d be incredibly disappointed if we didn’t and I know a lot of other people would be, too.
“It’s a big field and everyone’s been working pretty hard.
“Participation rate is lower than we’d all like it to be at this point. Let’s hope that changes considerably.”
READ MORE: Explaining SA’s complex council elections
Political scientist Clem MacIntyre told InDaily: “there’s plenty of evidence at the state and federal level of a degree of disaffection with political processes, and a decline in the level of confidence that government at any level is responsive to the issues and concerns of citizens”.
“Given that, it’s no surprise that voting levels at local government, where voting is not compulsory to vote, are falling off.
“We don’t see the same trend in state and federal politics because we’re required to attend and have our name crossed off the list.
“Worryingly… certain members of the comm have a declining level of confidence in democracy.”
Mousley told InDaily that while the current return rate for ballot papers was disappointingly low, there was still time for voters to have their say.
“While we still have the remainder of this week, I am concerned,” she said.
“Have a say in what’s happening locally, because the local councils are supposedly the layer of government closest to everyone, providing all the local amenities for them, so I’d like to think that there’d be a better take-up than what we’ve got.
“Last election … I’d started to go out to the media saying ‘we’ve got very low return rates’ and urged people to fill in their papers and return them to us.
“That pushed us above the previous election’s response, so that was good. That’s the same strategy I’m using this time around.
“We’ve had considerably lower return rates because back in the days it was an attendance ballot – some of them were only 17 per cent.”
Mousley said there was a 32.9 per cent ballot return rate in 2010 and a 31.6 per cent return rate in 2006.
Postal voting for local government elections closes at 5pm on Friday.
InDaily contacted Lord Mayoral candidates Mark Hamilton and Michael Henningson for comment.
Want to see more stories from InDailySA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDailySA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDailySA". That's it.
