Sir, – Mary Minihan advocates compulsory voting in order to find out what "Mr and Mr Average think" ("How compulsory voting would change Irish political landscape", Opinion & Analysis, July 27th).
Given the result of the recent referendum vote, in which we are told more young people voted, I am not sure compulsory voting would make much difference. In the recent referendum the marriage equality proposal, which had massive media support but which involved the rights of a small minority of citizens, was passed. In contrast, the proposal giving eligibility to stand for president to young people was voted down.
The latter issue involved a much larger proportion of the population but got a very negative media reaction.
In that case the increase in the participation of younger voters did nothing to convince the young voters to vote in favour of their own interests and rights.
The conclusion seems to be that no matter whether we have compulsory or non-compulsory voting, Mr and Mr Average will vote according to what they have recently read or heard in the media. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.