Why mandatory voting is a success in some countries, but not embraced in Canada

Should Canada make voting mandatory? Political theorist and professor, Kevin Elliott explains what voting rules could look like in Canada.

TORONTO — In the most recent federal elections, roughly a third of Canadians opted to stay home instead of casting their ballots. Could compulsory voting be the solution to Canada's voter turnout woes?

Mandatory voting laws aren't new. Belgium has had mandatory voting on the books since 1893 for men and 1948 women. Australia has had a compulsory voting law in place since 1924. Brazil, Uruguay and Luxemburg also have mandatory voting laws.

"States that have mandatory voting, they just become a fixture of the landscape. In Australia, roughly 70 per cent of the population supports mandatory voting, it's a very broad, very popular policy institution, and it's really not very controversial," Kevin Elliott, political theorist and professor at Murray State University in Kentucky, told CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday.

In Australia, things are pretty straight forward on election day -- citizens must go to the polling station. If they don't, they will receive a letter, he said.

"You can then send a letter which says that, 'I was out of town', or 'I was taking care of a sick child' or whatever it may be," said Elliott. "And very often, that explanation is sufficient, that's the end of it. If not, you receive a monetary fine between $20 and $50 Australian, at this point, and that's the end of the story."

More than 90 per cent of Australians turned out to vote in their 2019 election. Elliott said that this number is consistently high in that country.

"Australia has some of the best voting rights, highest turnout in the world, regularly in excess of 90 per cent turnout, and it's been fairly stable at that level for, most of the period of time that they've had it since 1924," he said.

In the 2019 federal election, Canada’s voter turnout was 67 per cent, in 2015 it was 68.3 per cent and in 2011 it was 61.1 per cent. Elections Canada’s website acknowledges compulsory voting’s success in Australia, but notes that the right to vote in Canada is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that making voting mandatory might be an unpopular option in Canada.

In 2014, in response to falling voter turnout, Liberals floated the idea of compulsory voting and ran a survey to see if the idea could take off in Canada. Mandatory voting was never officially adopted. In 2017, the Liberals made it clear that they would not impose mandatory voting after a survey on electoral reform. The survey showed that electoral reform was generally popular among Canadians but that mandatory voting was not, with 53 per cent of those polled saying they did not agree with mandatory voting.

More recently, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole told a virtual crowd last April that he was looking at how Australia conducts mandatory voting and if this would be an option for Canadians.

"I think that's a civic duty that we should encourage. I'm going to look closely at what Australia's been doing. I think there's a lot of things we can do to bring up confidence,” he said.

When The Canadian Press asked for clarification on his position later that month, he said in a statement: "Voting is a constitutionally protected right, and is an important pillar of democracy. Canada's Conservatives will always stand up for the rights of Canadians to cast a vote in our electoral system.”

According to Elections Canada, mandatory voting increases voter turnout by about 20 per cent, which would bring Canadian voter turnout up into the 80 per cent area.

About 70 per cent of Australians support compulsory voting, and Elliott said this is in part because they understand the reasoning behind it.

“They recognize that marginalized people are very likely to not turn out, people who are busy, people who are impoverished, and so, they will tend to recognize mandatory voting as a way for them to count, in a way that they might not otherwise be able to,” he said.

Another note for Australia’s success with mandatory voting is that it has been in place for almost as long as Australians could cast a vote. Their first election was in 1901, and voting mandates came into effect in 1924.

While some people may be concerned about being forced to vote, Elliott said it's only mandatory to turn out to the polls.

"You can remain perfectly free to vote for whomever you want or even to not vote at all," he said. "All that's legally required under mandatory voting statutes is that one attend to the polling place."

There are other things that are mandatory for Canadians that aren't quite as simple as turning out to a polling place on Election Day.

"Jury duty for instance, far more of an imposition than being required to come to the polling place on Election Day, but we recognize that it's an important civic duty, so we don't stress about it all that much," said Elliott.

- With files from the Canadian Press