Not so much for the UK and on a serious note.
Here in Australia we have compulsory voting. On election day you turn up to your local polling booth, get your name ticked off (surprisingly you don't need to show id, yet) and fill out your ballot papers in a small booth. The Electoral Commission will fine you $50 if you fail to vote.

Now those of you in the States may think this is great - where you guys get maybe 30% of the population voting at any one time. And that 30% is usually the richest and most driven by an agenda.

However the problem here is this - because it's compulsory most people do vote. That means that every redneck bogan whose political nous stretches as far as "Tones is a Cunt!" gets to cast a ballot paper. Furthermore every doddery old biddy who thinks that nice, presentable young man in the suit (the tired old hack) should be Prime Minister. And of course every bleeding-heart rainbow-blooded pinko lefty gets to scruff up the polling booth on Election Day with their "Land Rights for Gay Whales" placards...

To compound this issue we also have a preferential or two-parties preferred voting system. This put simply means that you can take the easy route and put a 1-4 at the top half of a ballot - then the parties will haggle/barter for the preferences from smaller parties and "independents" or you can take the time on the lower half of the ballot paper to number every box (up to about 70 depending on parties and independents) to specify your preferences. This second option it seems is far too taxing and time consuming for the average Aussie citizen, seeing how elections have a nasty way of getting in the way of going down to the pub to get pissed.
The downside is that the major parties do all sorts of dodgy backroom deals with the independents and smaller parties in order to get a majority - often going against their own core values and policies. And of course you end up with all sorts of nutters running as independents who end up holding the balance of power in hung parliaments. Combine this with the fact that there are very few differences between the two major parties and you have the recipe for what we've had for the last few years here - nutjobs holding the two major parties to ransom pushing their own weird agendas and two vanilla parties who might as well argue over black is white etc.



The solution? Well. Go back to a "one man, one vote" system whereby each vote in the ballot only goes to one party/candidate. This I feel would shift the emphasis from charismatic politics to policy driven decision making at the ballot box - people would be far less inclined to 'throw their vote away' or even donkey vote if it meant that the other guy had a greater chance of getting in. I would also keep compulsory voting, however at 18 (the legal age to vote) I would have a compulsory Political Quotient test. The purpose of the test would be to ostensibly test the voters simple understanding of the process and why they need to cast a thought out ballot. Those who fail the test could resit at age 20.
(shitposter from the anals of posteriority on, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 5:01, 23 replies)

I bet you think that you're one of the clever ones, who'd be allowed to vote, don't you?

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 8:56, closed)

Nobody gives a fuck about your backward country

(Baggenfrock get fucked, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 9:25, closed)

So democracy is like karaoke and self-publishing?
The great thing is that anyone can do it. The trouble is that everyone does.
(zebideedoodah likes florence but prefers venice, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 9:33, closed)

Instanta ban for Carehome

( $$ ✅, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 9:37, closed)

Yeah, like anyone who wanted to opt out of voting wouldn't think of intentionally failing your 'test' every time.
Or would you euthanise anyone who failed the age 20 resit because they're too stupid to be allowed to live and breed?
( drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 9:54, closed)

Christ you're fucking dull.
You're not even the best RF here.
(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 29 Apr 2015, 10:21, closed)

arfe?
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 10:26, closed)

For someone with a PhD in English from Oxford University you seem to have an awful lot of trouble with reading and comprehension.

(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 29 Apr 2015, 10:41, closed)

it just seemed an appropriate way to pronounce your initials...................................

( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 10:43, closed)

Like 'arse' then?

(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 29 Apr 2015, 11:21, closed)

that was indeed the joke
well done, you got there in the end, old bean!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 12:25, closed)

I have understood the joke for many years love
However at least 'arse' seems to make some sense, whereas 'arfe' doesn't.
(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 29 Apr 2015, 16:28, closed)

It does when you put R and F together as you did
You need to eat a few more oats, wake that brain up a bit
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 18:26, closed)

fuck off, rob f*******
you fat dull mess
(lol man river definite greek god, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 11:04, closed)

I refer you all sweeties
to Policy 16 of my manifesto

www.b3ta.com/questions/b3tafesto/post2500303

16. A certain Antipodean gentleman who I shall not very obliquely refer to as ‘Thief Pleasantresidence’ to be allowed back onto B3ta.
(Dr Skagra glorious glargzhem, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 18:55, closed)

Yeah but no one cares what you think

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 20:03, closed)

Yeah but no one cares what you think

(Dr Skagra glorious glargzhem, Wed 29 Apr 2015, 20:43, closed)

( The Doveston haunted by the memory of his own amnesia, Thu 30 Apr 2015, 13:14, closed)