widening the franchise and debates over suferage Flashcards
what was the 1832 great reform act
addressed the issue of ‘rotten boroughs’ created 67 new constituencies, broadened the property qualification so people who paid a yearly rental of £10 and got the vote
it was in response to growing demands for greater representation following the french revolution however the majority of working men still couldn’t vote
1867 representation of the peoples act
gave the vote to working class men
1918 representation of the peoples act
following the pressure from the suffragettes and the success of women working during WW1 - women over 30 who were married and met the property qualification can vote and so can all men over 21
1928 representation of the people act
what was another name for it
equal franchise act - all adults including women could vote over the age of 21
2022
all adults over 18 who are citizens of Britain, Ireland and some commonwealth countries who are resident in the uk can vote - the only exceptions are prisoners and mental health patients who have committed a criminal offence
why is widening the franchise important? x4
the idea of ‘no taxation without represenation’ if people are giving money to the gov then its fair that they have a say over where it is spent
increases representation of class, gender and ethnicity
educational benefits of people being encouraged to take interest in politics
makes politicians accountable for their actions
what is the difference between franchise and suffrage
franchise - who can vote
suffrage - right to vote
what % of women are there in the lords and commons
house of commons - 34% of Mps are female
house of lords - 25% of lords are female
FOR voting age at 16 x 3
1 - social media allows people to be better informed about politics so could make a more informed
2 - if someone is old enough to join the army then they should be old enough to vote
3 - the radical left views of young people could act as a balance to the extreme conservatism of elderly voters
AGAINST voting age to 16 x 3
1 - many issues are too complex for younger people to understand, especially as they have had very little life experience
2 - very few oay tax which gives them a lower stake in society; they shouldn’t be deciding where other peoples taxes go
3 - young people tend to be very radical and are more likely to do excessive things without thinking things through
compulsory voting - example of where it is used and why the uk should adopt it
it exists in many other countries
you can get a fine if you don’t vote
EG Australia have 90% turnout and the UK had a 67% turnout at the 2019 general election, so this would benefit
35% of 18-24 year olds vote in general elections compared to 80% of over 60s. This means that policy is targeted more towards older people, because they are the ones voting
conservatives are unlikely to support compulsory voting because young people don’t vote for them
labour are likely to support it because young people are left leaning more often
arguments for compulsory voting x3
1 - forces people to be informed on political issues, a broadened view of political opinion, having an effect on policy that is made e.g. young people
2 - an increase turnout adds more democratic legitimacy to the winners; people believe the result more
3 - gov will ensure that more sections of society are represented if they vote eg young people
arguments against compulsory voting x3
1 - many people aren’t well informed on political issues so that when they vote it will be an ‘ill-informed’ participation
2 - will involve large amounts of money to administer and enforce the system from taxes which some people want spent elsewhere
3 - favours larger parties because smaller ones are less well known so they are less likely to vote for them if you aren’t politically inclined
a recent example over voting being made harder
voter ID cards (forces people to bring photo ID cards)
- the richer you are the more likely you are to have an ID eg if you dont go on holidays you wont have a passport/ if you cant afford to drive you wont have a license
- the gov believe the scheme could cost up to £180,000,000 a decade to run
- people who have never voted before, don’t have any qualifications, have a limiting disability probably don’t have ANY sort of ID
- in the latest opinion poll: 80 percent of people are confident that elections are well run
- in 2019 GE, out of 58,000,000 votes, only 34 were accused of vote fraud which doesn’t mean they were charged
- most of europe have mandatory ID cards which are very low cost or even free so it doesn’t provide a barrier to voting
