Interesting suggestion by my colleague @stefanmueller.bsky.social on @news.rte.ie to reduce the voting age in local elections to address low turnout in general elections. Despite the mixed results in recent research I still think votes at 16 in Dail elections + education reforms is key - ThreadSky

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social • 92 days ago

Interesting suggestion by my colleague @stefanmueller.bsky.social on @news.rte.ie to reduce the voting age in local elections to address low turnout in general elections. Despite the mixed results in recent research I still think votes at 16 in Dail elections + education reforms is key

Comments

tomhickey.bsky.social•92 days ago

Not sure about lowering voting age. The real problem is that 18-30 aren’t interested in voting. And too many people of all ages couldn’t be bothered but complain about the choices we make. I’d like to see a strong debate on the whole subject of how we address the issue.

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

The potential trick is to catch the young citizen while they’re still at home and at school so that they are more likely to vote the first time it’s possible for them. This increases the chance of it becoming habit forming

tomhickey.bsky.social•92 days ago

I get that, but how successful is it elsewhere!

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

The evidence is mixed not least due to a recent re-analysis of Austrian data. But I still think the argument has merit

tomhickey.bsky.social•92 days ago

Fair enough. Thanks for your insight.

anniewestdotcom.bsky.social•92 days ago

Good idea David. But I think we ought to draw the line at Junior infants

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

Tho seriously it does help

angelatimlin.bsky.social•91 days ago

The Electoral Commission should step up their efforts at overall voter education

timbre-breda.bsky.social•92 days ago

When I voted it was 20-30 year olds that were there, I spoke to 1 young man afterwards & he got the train home from college just to vote, even though he wasn’t planning to come home for the weekend. I found the apathy was amongst the 40-50 year olds

aidanosullivan.bsky.social•92 days ago

I’d agree. A 16 year old voting last week will have to live through 4 years of this govt, including as an adult going into college towards the end, student accommodation, travel, cost of living etc

ginamurf.bsky.social•92 days ago

My mum taught me how to vote. The amount of people I meet who don’t understand the importance of going down the list till you don’t want your vote transferred to a candidate is astounding. Today I spoke with a politician who narrowly got in… he was no. 10 on one of the transfer votes. It mattered.

joeblynam.bsky.social•91 days ago

how about eVoting (Estonia), voting at foreign embassies all over the world (Oz) and fully unrestrictive postal voting (Britain)?

athenamediaie.bsky.social•92 days ago

but voting at 16 is not the reason for low turnout. Where is the data that low turnout is improved by lowering age, rather than investing in citizen engagement and education? Turnout seems directly related to poverty, social vulnerability, disaffection from state; i.e those who feel disempowered.

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

Agree with everything you say about citizen engagement and education. And there definitely are things that the parties need to reflect on relating to those issues. But reducing the voting age may also help. I repeat “may” because the evidence to support this is certainly not conclusive

athenamediaie.bsky.social•92 days ago

true, so I'd suggest we need evidence to associate it with turnout - currently it appears to be a completely separate discussion of extending franchise rather than solving low turnout - which seems is a layered social participation and engagement question

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

There is quite an involved political science debate on that very question. For me (personally) the theory is strong, but I readily admit that to date the evidence is mixed. The fact of that matter is that so far the N is small

trionac.bsky.social•92 days ago

Both of mine will be eligible to vote before they leave school, and they are amongst the youngest in their respective classes. Many of their friends will be eligible in 5th year.

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

That’s great to hear but IMHO it’s a shame that we don’t have a dedicated class on civics and democracy for them

betaburns.bsky.social•90 days ago

I thought CSPE covered lots of this.

trionac.bsky.social•92 days ago

I’m so unfamiliar with the secondary school curriculum. I thought they had brought in a more rounded Civics curriculum. Maybe @ciaraquill.bsky.social knows. My nieces & nephews will be thinking about college when the next election comes around. I sincerely hope to see a better landscape by then.

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

With you there

mnicearbhaill.bsky.social•92 days ago

Good idea plus all citizens should be able to vote - including those living abroad.

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

Definitely

athenamediaie.bsky.social•92 days ago

definitely against it. We'd have all those Irish-Americans in US who have citizenship and are pro-Trump throwing their tuppence into a state they've no investment in.

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

Well we’re one of the few European democracies not to have votes for emigrants

matthewpb.bsky.social•92 days ago

Why should that influence our thinking?

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

I guess it influences mine

matthewpb.bsky.social•92 days ago

But why?

athenamediaie.bsky.social•92 days ago

very few of them would face impact of an overseas vote in the way we numerically could - via US right-wing - and I dont think most of them permit citizenship based on one grandparent (even if your parents were not born here) - context matters.

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

There are ways to allow for this, such as having a dedicated (e.g. 3-seat) constituency just for the diaspora, or restricting the vote to those whose turn up to the relevant consulate. The voting right is extended to non-citizens but its value is diluted

athenamediaie.bsky.social•92 days ago

How many EU countries allow citizenship abroad to be claimed based on a single grandparent ancestry with no parents born in the country ?

mmdc.bsky.social•92 days ago

Should people who do not pay taxes in Ireland be able vote?
The American term " no representation without taxation", would be valid here.

Or a time cut off point? Say anymore than 3 yrs living abroad you can't vote?

davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social•92 days ago

These are arguments commonly made but the general trend is to give the diaspora a vote

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