LONDON -- Would a national holiday make you feel more like voting?
The House of Commons political and constitutional reform committee hopes so. It has recommended a day off for each general election in the UK as part of a package of proposed changes to try and increase voter turnout.
The committee's new report, entitled "Voter engagement in the UK," also calls for automated registration and Internet voting trials with a view to offering online voting by the 2020 general election.
The committee chair, Labour MP Graham Allen, pointed out that turnout in the last general election was only 65%, with almost 16 million voters choosing not to participate -- a stark contrast to the 85% turnout for the referendum on Scottish independence. "Our democracy is facing a crisis if we do not take urgent action to make elections more accessible to the public and convince them that it is worth voting," he said.
The issue of compulsory voting was brought up, but opinion among committee members was divided, with the report recommending that the government analyse the proposal and put it to a Commons vote.
The committee asked for feedback on its report via Twitter.
Text of tweet here— PCRC (@commonsPolCon) November 14, 2014
The report also notes the obvious, that "dissatisfaction with current parties or politicians" and "negative views of politicians" have contributed to a low turnout, both of which will be a lot harder to address than the mechanics of voting.