Compulsion voting and turnout threshold

For many years, coercion to vote has been used in many countries. It is from that time that the legend comes that 99% of Swiss people take part in the referendum. It turned out, however, that when voting is forced, people who have not had time to be interested in the subject vote as the largest media say.

However, when voting is voluntary, only those who are sure that their knowledge is good enough that the result of the vote does not harm them.

It is one thing for parliamentarians – for them voting is an obligation and not a privilege, which is why in the Sejm the compulsion to vote can be used.

The average turnout in Switzerland is 40%. Switzerland is the most developed democracy in the world, so it can be assumed that 40% is the maximum turnout that can be achieved by voting.

The turnout threshold gives an advantage to those who are against. This is because both those who voted against and those who did not go to the vote – can cause the new law not to be accepted.

In Poland, in municipal referendums, a turnout threshold of 30% is applied. There are known cases that most people were in favor of a given solution, but the provision was not introduced because the turnout threshold was not reached.

The very existence of a turnout threshold negates the principle that 1 person = 1 vote.
In practice, the turnout threshold causes citizens to lose the ability to decide.