Compulsory registration is not widely practiced in Africa or North America. In South America, the two practices are evenly distributed. Again, much depends on the way civil registries and residence records are organized.
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In the UK for example, someone supplied the information:
QUOTE
IS VOTING COMPULSORY?
No, people cannot be forced to vote, nor is registration itself compulsory. But those failing to return a completed registration form or giving false information can be fined up to £1,000
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So, for example, you cannot be forced to drive below 55 mph, but you can be fined for exceeding the speed limit!
Not all laws are created to be enforced. Some laws are created to merely state the government's position regarding what the citizen's responsibility should be. Mandatory voting laws that do not include sanctions may fall into this category. Although a government may not enforce mandatory voting laws or even have formal sanctions in law for failing to vote, the law may have some effect upon the citizens. For example, in Austria voting is compulsory in only two regions, with sanctions being weakly enforced. However, these regions tend to have a higher turnout average than the national average.
UNQUOTE
Most democratic governments consider participating in national elections a right of citizenship. Some consider that participation at elections is also a citizen's civic responsibility. In some countries, where voting is considered a duty, voting at elections has been made compulsory and has been regulated in the national constitutions and electoral laws. Some countries go as far as to impose sanctions on non-voters.
Compulsory voting is not a new concept. Some of the first countries that introduced mandatory voting laws were Belgium in 1892, Argentina in 1914 and Australia in 1924. There are also examples of countries such as Venezuela and the Netherlands which at one time in their history practiced compulsory voting but have since abolished it.
Advocates of compulsory voting argue that decisions made by democratically elected governments are more legitimate when higher proportions of the population participate. They argue further that voting, voluntarily or otherwise, has an educational effect upon the citizens. Political parties can derive financial benefits from compulsory voting, since they do not have to spend resources convincing the electorate that it should in general turn out to vote. Lastly, if democracy is government by the people, presumably this includes all people, then it is every citizen's responsibility to elect their representatives.
The leading argument against compulsory voting is that it is not consistent with the freedom associated with democracy. Voting is not an intrinsic obligation and the enforcement of the law would be an infringement of the citizens' freedom associated with democratic elections. It may discourage the political education of the electorate because people forced to participate will react against the perceived source of oppression. Is a government really more legitimate if the high voter turnout is against the will of the voters? Many countries with limited financial capacity may not be able to justify the expenditures of maintaining and enforcing compulsory voting laws. It has been proved that forcing the population to vote results in an increased number of invalid and blank votes compared to countries that have no compulsory voting laws.
Another consequence of mandatory voting is the possible high number of "random votes". Voters who are voting against their free will may check off a candidate at random, particularly the top candidate on the ballot. The voter does not care whom they vote for as long as the government is satisfied that they fulfilled their civic duty. What effect does this immeasureable category of random votes have on the legitimacy of the democratically elected government?
Voter registration systems in a global perspective
Voter registration can be conducted on an ad hoc basis only for a specific election or organized on a permanent basis either with periodic updating or with updating as a more continuous process. Ad hoc registration occurs least frequently, with the exception of post-conflict elections, which are often conducted with an ad hoc registry of voters. Nevertheless, there are exceptional cases even in well-established democracies where a permanent voter registry was instituted only recently (i.e., Canada in 1997).
In addition, voter registration may be compulsory or voluntary for citizens. A global survey of 124 countries by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) found that compulsory voter registration is quite common in Western Europe as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. In those nations, it is organized on a continuous basis whereby the voter is automatically registered on a voter list after turning 18 years of age, with no requirement to appear before any public authority. This system is based on individual citizenship and age information, provided from either civil registry records or residents' rolls compiled at local government levels.
Compulsory registration is not widely practiced in Africa or North America. In South America, the two practices are evenly distributed. Again, much depends on the way civil registries and residence records are organized.
Permanent voter registers are updated either on a continuous basis or at specific time intervals, normally during the period immediately preceding an election. Continuous registration requires an appropriate infrastructure to maintain the register either at the electoral administration or at the civil register. This involves adding the names and other relevant information for those who satisfy eligibility requirements (attaining citizenship, satisfying residency requirements, and attaining voting age) and deleting the names of those who no longer meet the eligibility requirements (usually because of death and change of residency). Continuous registers are used more often than periodic registers in all regions of the world, despite the complex machinery and high cost incurred. It is important to note, however that voter registration through a periodic voter register is ultimately a more expensive operation than maintaining a continuous register (IDEA, 2002, p. 30).
QUOTE
On the on-going voters' registration in the state, the commissioner said the government has declared today and Tuesday, January 25, 2011, as free work and market days to enable public servants and members of the private sector to register, warning that payment of January salary would be effected on proof of registration. - Abia State Governor
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QUOTE
Voters Registration-Nigeria - In order to make sure that all eligible voters in the state got registered in the on-going registration exercise, Bauchi state government has deployed all top civil servants and political appointees to their respective local governments to monitor the exercise effectively. The directive was contained in a letter from the office of the Head of Civil Service, Abdulkadir Ibrahim based on the approval of the state Governor, Isa Yuguda.
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Adey:
It is a stick-and-carrot approach that some of these governors seem to be adopting.......
Nationwide, there are 2.5 million civil and public workers. In Ekiti State, there are just 24,000 of such workers - or 1% of the Ekiti population, so don't make this sound like a tyranny in Ekiti. With a 2006 Census population of about 2.4 million, and national age structure of
0-14 years: 41.5% (male 31,624,050/female 30,242,637)
15-64 years: 55.5% (male 42,240,641/female 40,566,672)
65 years and over: 3.1% (male 2,211,840/female 2,343,250) (2010 est.)that gives an 18 and over % of about 50% - giving a voting population of Ekiti State of 1.2 million (2006 level), if all register. (In 2007, the number of registered voters was put at 738,335 or 61.5% registration rate.)
Bolaji Aluko
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ABIA
Abia returns 22 schools to former owners
From Gordi Udeajah, Umuahia
Declares work-free days for voters' registration
NO fewer than 22 secondary schools have been approved by the Abia State government for return to their former owners after the defunct East-Central State government took over all schools after the Civil War in 1970.The state Information/Strategy Commissioner, Anthony Agbazuere, announced this to journalists on Wednesday after the State Executive Council meeting.
He added that the action was consequent upon the report of the committee set up for that purpose and headed by the Deputy Governor, Acho Nwakanma and the demand by some church-owners of the schools so taken over.
He, however, said the 22 approved schools were the first phase and that their owners should apply for same and attach all necessary information indicating that thereafter, a formal bill to that effect would be presented to the state Legislature for passage into law.
He added that the government would ensure that the welfare and interests of the teachers in the returned schools would be taken care of.
Agbazuere named the owners of the schools as Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Apostolic, Qua Iboe, Adventist and Apostolic and Anglican Churches.
Some of the approved schools he listed were Sacred Heart College, Aba; Immaculate Heart College, Aba; Methodist College, Uzuakoli; Ngodo Secondary School, Wilcox Memorial Secondary School, Aba; Adventist High School, Ihie; All Saints College, Ehere Aba; Ibeku High School, Aba; Ovom Girls, Aba and Eziama High School, Aba.
On the on-going voters' registration in the state, the commissioner said the government has declared today and Tuesday, January 25, 2011, as free work and market days to enable public servants and members of the private sector to register, warning that payment of January salary would be effected on proof of registration.
He added that the state government has set up a central revenue collection and payment system, hence it banned all forms of multiple taxation in the state and ordered councils transition chairmen to stop such illegal revenue collection groups.
http://odili.net/news/source/2011/jan/21/8.html
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BAUCHI
Voters Registration-Nigeria - In order to make sure that all eligible voters in the state got registered in the on-going registration exercise, Bauchi state government has deployed all top civil servants and political appointees to their respective local governments to monitor the exercise effectively. The directive was contained in a letter from the office of the Head of Civil Service, Abdulkadir Ibrahim based on the approval of the state Governor, Isa Yuguda.
The letter stated that the affected top civil servants were from the ranks of Directors to Permanent Secretaries while the political appointees were the Special Advisers and Commissioners as well as heads of other government agencies and parastatals.
According to the letter, the civil servants were to ensure that people particularly those eligible to be registered were adequately mobilised to go for the registration exercise at the nearest centres to them as well as ensure that the exercise was hitch free in their various areas while problems are to be reported to the appropriate quarters for immediate actions.
However, they were advised not to be partisan in the exercise but to ensure that only people eligible in accordance with the guidelines were allowed to be registered.
The registration in some areas of Bauchi is going on in a snail speed as people wait on the queue for a long period before they were attended to due to the slow nature of the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines coupled with lack of power to charge the batteries.
Daily Champion/21/01/2011
On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 2:43 AM, Adey <adey45@yahoo.com> wrote:
No Voter Card, No Salary, Says Fayemi
Sunday, 23 January 2011 00:00 From Muyiwa Adeyemi, Ado EkitiTO demonstrate seriousness attached to the voter registration exercise by his administration, Governor Kayode Fayemi yesterday warned that any civil servant in Ekiti State who fails to obtain a voter registration card will
not receive January salary.
The governor made the declaration in Ode-Ekiti, headquarters of Gbonyin Local Government Area of the state, shortly after flagging off the Free Medical Mission packaged by his administration for the people in the grassroots.
He said his administration places premium on the voter registration, which he described as an important step to prevent vote robbery in the 2011 general elections, calling on residents of the state to troop out en masse and get registered.
The governor charged all civil servants both at the state and local government levels to go to the nearest registration point and register their names as eligible voters so as not to lose their salaries.
Fayemi said: "Your vote is your power and I want all of you to ensure that you register as voters to enable you exercise your civic rights at the forthcoming general elections.
"Any civil servant without voter card will not receive this month's salary and the subsequent ones. I am emphasising it that the card will be required from civil servants before they collect their salaries."The Guardian__._,_.___![Yahoo! Groups]()
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