This question was posed by an ACE user through the "Ask a question" function in Electoral Advice.

• Is voter apathy a worrying trend in other continents as well?
• How can EMBs improve their practices to encourage voter participation and increase turnout?
• How can stakeholders (and assistance programmes) revive genuine political participation and interest apart from the standard, periodic civic education campaigns or political party campaigns?

Summary of responses:

Posted on 9 May, 2007.

“Democracy should be a celebration of an involved public. Democracy requires an active citizenry because it is through discussion, popular interest, and involvement in politics that societal goals should be defined and carried out. Without public involvement in the process, democracy lacks both its legitimacy and its guiding force.”  - Russel Dalton

In recent years voter apathy has increased and voter turnout at elections have reached worryingly low levels both in emerging democracies and consolidated ones – especially the declining voter participation among the youth has become a major issue of concern. Low voter turnout can be related to and originated by many different factors and the problem is not solely, or even necessarily, connected to elections. In many cases the problem is more closely related to the democratic, economic and social development of a country. The low voter turnout at elections therefore has to be considered within the larger discussion on building democratic societies.

The lack of genuine democracy in a county, peoples’ perceptions of not being able to influence the political agenda and the lack of interest in political life are all factors that can influence the levels of electoral participation considerably. Other factors in relation to the wider democracy discussion influencing voter apathy and electoral participation may be:

• low confidence in the political candidates/parties;
• insufficient levels of accountability of elected candidates to their constituents;
• insufficient ways in which those representatives who don’t deliver can be voted out;
• the lack of political maturity of parties;
• complex inter and intra-party politics; and
• the low levels of “democratic culture” and awareness of the electorate and other stakeholders.

Low voter turnout can also be more closely related to elections and the electoral process as such, and is thus a concern and issue for the electoral administration to consider and remedy. Low voter turnout can be related to elections in two different ways:

1)       Lack of trust, confidence and credibility in the electoral process and in the electoral institution responsible for managing elections.

2)       Administrative hindrance to access and participate in the voting process due to poor management and poor electoral procedures.

Lack of confidence in EMBs and electoral processes can depend on a wide variety of factors, such as:

• problems and inconsistencies in the legal framework of the elections;
• the inadequacy of an electoral system;
• a biased election administration;
• lack of transparency in decision making and electoral procedures; and
• the way in which electoral disputes are being dealt with by the relevant body/ies.

Administrative hindrance due to poor management and procedures can for example depend on factors such as:

• inadequate electoral procedures and voting arrangements/facilities;
• difficulties in obtaining documents to participate in the electoral process;
• restricted, inaccessible and difficult enrollment procedures;
• poor voter education and information;
• low accessibility to the polls;

Any of these factors alone, or in combination, could significantly affect voter participation. However, assessment of the electoral process and evaluation and close diagnose of the procedures being used can identify and unravel the factors that trigger widespread voter apathy. EMBs can take measures to effectively enhance the overall credibility of the elections, both the organization and the delivery of them. In this process, which ideally takes place during the ‘post-election’ period (‘in-between’ election period) electoral management bodies should have an open and continuous dialogue with relevant stakeholders, where stakeholders are allowed and even encouraged to help identify, propose and enact effective measures and remedies.

An EMB can enhance the credibility of its elections and procedures and raise voter participation through initiatives aimed at strengthening the professionalism of its staff at all levels of the organization; by making its work, decisions and dealings with all electoral stakeholders as independent, accountable and transparent as possible; by reforming electoral procedures to e.g. ensure the voting process is simple and the enrollment in electoral lists more generous and user-friendly; by taking voter and civic education measures to raise voter awareness and understanding of the electoral process.

Finally, it has been suggested by David Butler, Donald Stokes and Mark Franklin, that most people establish their pattern of electoral participation (or not) by roughly the third election after they reach voting age. This pattern is then hardly susceptible to change. Once each successive generation of people who join the electorate reach the age of about 30 or 35, their inclination to participate or not participate in elections will be set until they leave the electorate through death. It is therefore important to catch the voters while they are still young. In order to increase voter turnout, EMBs and civil society organisation should therefore make an extra effort to target their voter education and information programmes to the younger generation.

• Tim Meisburger
• Antonio Spinelli
• Paul Graham
• Debashis Sen
• David Henry

Links to related resources:

• Challenges of Young People’s Participation (Andrew Ellis, International IDEA)
• Electoral Engineering and Turnout (Pippa Norris, UNDP)
  
• What effects turnout? (International IDEA Voter Turnout Database)
• Engaging the Electorate: Initiatives to Promote Voter Turnout From Around the World (International IDEA)
• Voter Turnout Since 1945: A Global Report (International IDEA)
• Voter Turnout in Western Europe Since 1945: A Regional Report (International IDEA)
• Afro Barometer: Compendium of Comparative Data from a Twelve-Nation Survey 

Individual responses in full:

My first thought is that this is not an issue that can be readily addressed by an EMB. It is related to the lack of genuine democracy in the country. People feel their vote has no influence because it does have very little influence in countries were the political agenda is largely controlled by unaccountable parties or interest groups. Possible responses are devolution of powers and decision-making to lower and lower levels of government, and shifting from party-centric forms of government to those more focused on individuals (to enhance representation and accountability).

Cheers,  Tim

In my view voter apathy is originated by a combination of factors, each country having its own situation, so it is difficult to be specific in answering to this question.

Sure enough, in recent years voter apathy has reached worrying levels worldwide. Through the various generations of elections, declining voter participation, especially among the youth, has steadily and increasingly become a major issue of concern that has been equally affecting emerging democracy and consolidated ones.

Decreasing voter participation trends are a cause of concern because voter turnout is one of the main indicators to measure the levels of democratic development and robustness of a country. If we stay in Africa, one of the most striking and worrisome examples of declining voter participation is certainly the case of Malawi, which in just one year experienced a massive drop in voter turnout, moving from an outstanding 93 percent turnout in the 1999 National elections to a mere and record-breaking 14 percent in the 2000 Local elections.

Increasing trends in voter apathy from an election to another can be attributed to a wide variety of factors, such as: problems in the legal framework of the elections; the inadequacy of an electoral system; a poor or biased election administration and management by the responsible electoral management body (EMB); inadequate electoral procedures and voting arrangements/facilities; the way in which electoral disputes are being dealt with by the relevant body/ies; insufficient levels of accountability of elected candidates to their constituents; the lack of political maturity of parties; complex inter and intra-party politics; the low levels of “democratic culture” and awareness of the electorate and other stakeholders; and more.

Any of these factors alone, or in combination, could significantly affect voter participation. After all, to participate, voters must have full trust in the electoral process, in the way in which elections are administrated, must have confidence in the candidates/parties they are going to vote for, in the overall outcome of the voting exercise, in the way in which those elected can be accountable to deliver the commitments they took before being elected, in the way in which those who don’t deliver can be voted out, etc.

A good starting point for any country experiencing declining voter participation trends could be to undertake major efforts to thoroughly investigate and unravel the factors that have triggered widespread voter apathy and then, as a second step, in full consultation with all the relevant stakeholders in the electoral process, to identify, propose and enact effective measures and remedies needed to reverse such trends in voter apathy.

More specifically, for what an EMB is concerned, possible efforts to raise voter turnout and revive genuine political participation should certainly include measures to effectively enhance the overall credibility of the elections that such an EMB has to organise and deliver. Providers of electoral assistance could also support such measures. An EMB could enhance the credibility of its elections through initiatives aimed at strengthening the professionalism of its staff at all levels; by making its work, decisions and dealings with all electoral stakeholders as independent, accountable and transparent as possible; by ensuring that the actual voting process is simple, sustainable, cost-effective, efficient and service-oriented to voters; by raising voter awareness both of the technical/practical information about the election/voting process and of all the broader democratic principles and values allowing voters to understand the importance and feel proud of showing up at their polling station on election day.

Let me add my voice to those who have been pointing out that so-called voter apathy - or preferably, low voter turn out at elections - has to be considered within the larger discussion on building democratic societies. In some cases, citizens may be very active outside of electoral politics, so clearly apathy is not the problem. In others, there may be real hindrances to voting, such as difficulties in obtaining documents, registering, getting to the polls, understanding the issues, trusting the process and so on. So finding remedies requires closer diagnosis.

International IDEA have just published "Engaging the Electorate: Initiatives to promote voter turnout from around the world" which may be useful. And in Africa the Afrobarometer allows some diagnosis in those countries where it is conducted regularly.

While I agree with most of what has been said above, I would add that EMBs may also have a part to make the process, particularly of enrollment in electoral lists, user-friendly. To "catch 'em young", use of on-line application forms for voter registration that does not require any signature has been proved to be useful. Also, EMBs may issue Photo ID cards to registered electors. As an ID, this is second only to an international passport and can have a huge demand, and this demand, in turn, propels a new enthusiasm for enrollment.

Voter turnout in New Zealand has been slowly declining over the last 30 years, although there was an up turn at the last election to 81%. Enrolment is compulsory but voting is not. About 95% are enrolled in practice. Enrolment is possible up to midnight the day before election day. Voting facilities are widely available - one can vote in any polling place for example and each voter receives from the Chief Electoral Officer an information pack including details of their candidates, polling places and a personal EasyVote card to assist them when voting. Despite all this 23% did not vote. Regular post-election research (see www.elections.org.nz) shows that administrative barriers to voting are rarely the reason - it is the attitude to politics and civic duties. That being so there is only so much that the electoral authorities can do to increase turnout- but one has of course to keep trying!