Time to make voting compulsory in Ghana? It is in these countries

There are seven presidential candidates vying for the votes of 15.7 million registered voters. However, concerns have been raised about voter apathy denting the legitimacy of the winner. Many voters (especially the youth) do not plan to vote in this elections because they believe their lives will not change regardless of the winner because ‘politicians are all the same.’

In August 2016, the Electoral Commission’s chairperson, Charlotte Osei in a television interview said she did not intend to vote in this elections because “it is not compulsory.”

Charlotte Osei is the immediate past chairperson of the National Commission on Civic Education, a body whose mandate includes encouraging citizens to exercise their constitutional right to choose leaders.

It thus begs the question: if the head of the electoral body doesn’t deem it important to vote, why should anyone turn up and join a long queue in order to vote?

Is it time to consider making voting compulsory in Ghana? Twenty-seven (27) countries worldwide have a law that make voting compulsory for eligible citizens - three are African. They are Belgium (since 1894), Argentina (since 1912), Australia (since 1924), Gabon, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uruguay, Singapore, Cyprus, Liechtenstein and Greece.

The rest are Bulgaria (since 2016), Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Lebanon (for men only), Costa Rica, Perú, Turkey, Luxembourg, Paraguay (except for those over 75), Thailand, Nauru, Panama and even tightly repressive North Korea.

While many countries have fines for not producing a legitimate reason for not voting, countries such as Singapore, Belgium and Bolivia take it a notch higher. In Bolivia, you could be denied your salary for three months for not voting, while in Belgium and Singapore, you could have the right to vote taken away from you in subsequent elections. Getting a passport may also be an issue for chronic non-voters in Brazil.

Increased turnout

This is perhaps the biggest pro for mandatory voting. The 2012 elections in Ghana produced a turnout of 79 percent. That leaves 21 percent of the population of eligible voters who didn’t bother to show up for the national exercise. Making voting compulsory means that there will be a larger turnout which is the case in Australia which recorded a 94 percent turnout in their 2013 elections.

Broaden representation and legitimacy

The increased turnout also means that winner(s) achieve a stronger backing from the populace to carry out their mandate. With a minimal turnout, a politician struggles to get the needed public opinion support for his/her plans when in office.

Increased voter education and seriousness prevents targeting

There is increased voter education and seriousness attached to the campaign because every vote matters. The candidates and national civic bodies will have to go all out to educate the people about the process, the significant issues being decided and prevents the situation where candidates fashion out a campaign that only targets demographics with a history of turning up. In many Western democracies, ethnic minorities have a lower turnout hence are not really of interest to candidates who pursue sometimes racist policies in order to attract the votes of the right-wing Caucasian population who have a higher turnout percentage.

What are the arguments against mandatory voting?

Invalid ballots

Aside being a contradiction to the democratic principle of choice, showing up to vote simply does not mean electorates would actually produce valid votes. With a private voting system, nothing stops voters from leaving ballot papers either blank or deliberately voting wrongly. In the 2013 Australian polls, six percent of people voted either wrongly or left the paper blank.

Casting ballots for unpreferred candidates

Some electorates who stamp their ballot papers correctly may be selecting candidates that they do not prefer but are only making that decision because they have to. So for example, if voting was compulsory in Ghana, some will simply vote for a political outsider or novice who stands no realistic chance of winning. Do we want voters to make real choices or forced ones?

Expensive to police

It is expensive to police and enforce the law requiring people to vote in elections. The police will first have to go through the register identifying voters those who abstained and then sanctioning them. It is no wonder that out of the countries where there is mandatory voting, only 10 actually enforce the rules. The penalties are penance and there is very little real incentive to get out and vote. Countries such as Fiji, Spain and Austria have totally abolished compulsory voting laws.

Infringement on religious freedoms

Members of some faiths notably the Jehovah’s Witnesses sect, have as part of their beliefs, political quietism which includes abstinence from running for political office and voting. Compulsory voting and fining those who don’t on that basis is a clear infringement on their fundamental human rights.

Related: Election 2016:

What can be done to improve voter participation?

To increase voter participation, there is a need to first make the registration to vote simpler. Currently, to register to vote in Ghana one would most likely have to join a long queue, have two witnesses to attest their citizenship claims if they do not have some national ids, and in some cases have their Ghanaian-ness questioned by political parties.

Voting should also be made simpler for those who live far away from the nearest voting station or are/will be out of the country. This could be done by making voting arrangements at Ghana’s missions abroad or instituting postal voting. While there is ‘special voting’ which allows those who work on election day such as security personnel, it is important to broaden it to encapsulate everyone with an early voting system.

There is also need to significantly increase the number of polling stations to reduce the long-winding queues that deter so many voters.