WHY THE BRITISH VOTE
Williams, David C.
Why the British Vote By David C. Williams London SOME British people did not like the results of the 1950 American elections, others did. But all agreed in deploring the low vote in a contest...
...Every opportunity is given them to do so...
...each party has established a system of retirement pensions for its agents...
...There is little excuse for being too proud or too self-righteous to vote...
...It begins with registration...
...For full-time agents it is a year-round, lifetime job...
...The way in which the Tories took advantage of the provisions for voting by mail was particularly impressive...
...The candidate whose cause is hopeless works hard to improve his party's position...
...On the contrary, the parties generally vie with one another in putting forward the best candidates they can...
...Several bound copies are distributed to each party agent...
...He had large funds, and was able to hire many energetic people, partic-uarly ex-World War II officers, to do the work...
...beginning to end, the whole election apparatus is geared to get out the fullest possible vote...
...On the negative side, British politics is almost entirely free of the aura of petty corruption which hangs about so much of the American political scene...
...The more important work comes after the registration lists are completed and closed...
...They check the returns against the last registration, and where people have dropped off they send canvassers to check up on them...
...By then, the agent knows where every one of his party's supporters is to be found...
...Obviously, even in Britain it is easier to get out a high vote in constituencies where the contest is reasonably close...
...many of them have "clinics" every week, when their constituents, whatever their politics, many come to them for advice and help...
...The opposition candidate is usually chosen well in advance, and is also constantly active "nursing" the constituency...
...They hope and strive to make good enough showings so that their case for a better constituency at the next election will be improved...
...But most party officials feel that they have done very well as it is, and can do even better in the future...
...He spends the day meeting as many people at their doorsteps as possible, and crowds three or four public meetings into every evening...
...Even if he is unlucky in this respect, he knows at least that the strictness of party discipline is such that one weak Member of Parliament cannot cause the nation any great harm...
...They provide the basis for the thorough house-to-house canvass which then begins...
...Only those who are determined not to vote, or are utterly indifferent, succeed in evading their civic duty...
...III It is on that day that the most strenuous action takes place...
...Headquarters are set up in each voting district, and manned by volunteers, many of them with experience of several previous elections...
...They are then arranged by streets and numbers and printed by local governments...
...Perhaps Americans should return the compliment, and see what can be done to remedy the distressing political apathy of many U.S...
...The "Doubtful" people are canvassed a second and even a third time, to win their definite support...
...The result is that the British voter usually has honest and reasonably able candidates for whom to vote...
...Precautions are taken to insure that they do not employ their strategic positions to become candidates for Parliament themselves...
...People qualify for it by taking courses in election law and practices given by the party of their choice, and passing a thorough examination...
...Nothing arouses so much indignation as an attack upon a policeman...
...But in part it is because Britain imposes less of a strain on the morality of politicians...
...Many ambitious people begin their pilgrimage to Parliament by taking on a constituency they cannot win...
...At one constituency after another they turned up a postal vote over the thousand mark, while Labor stuck low in the hundreds...
...This, in fact, used to be the main responsibility of the party "election agent," called in earlier years the "registration agent...
...British political leaders derive pride and confidence from the fact that they have been put in power by the verdict, freely recorded, of the overwhelming majority of adult Britishers...
...It must be many years since any British politician has done so...
...It has become a recognized profession...
...Only 43% of Americans of voting age took the trouble to cast their ballots, as compared with 84% in Britain in the 1950 General Election...
...Yet they find little shocking in politicians speculating upon, or even seeking to insure, a low vote...
...Since he cannot know the date of a Parliamentary election very far in advance (that is decided by the Prime Minister), the agent must maintain a constant state of preparedness...
...By last year Lord Woolton, head of the Conservative Party organization, had turned the tables...
...Americans dislike a manufacturer who wants to keep his output low and his prices high...
...The law is greatly respected, and firmly (even harshly) enforced...
...But all agreed in deploring the low vote in a contest which could so greatly affect the future of the free world...
...But all parties do their best even in safe Labor or Conservative seats...
...Each party tries to have one or more of them in as many constituencies as it can afford...
...In midafternoon the work of checking up on the laggards commences...
...The British envy Americans their "know-how" in industrial productivity, and have sent many worker-management teams to the United States in recent years to learn what they can about the most up-to-date techniques...
...Until recent years, the Labor Party election machine, with its many volunteer workers, had an edge on the Conservatives in effectiveness...
...It is a poor advertisement of American democracy if more than half the people are not enough interested in it to take the trouble to vote...
...Party workers check them against their records, and send people around to bring in the missing names...
...No political machine in British history has ever functioned so effectively as his did last year...
...One cannot have industrial productivity without wanting it...
...Each candidate has the right to have his "election address" delivered to every voter at public expense...
...citizens...
...American politicians must sometimes wonder what sort of a nation the 57% of the United States electorate who did not vote last November really wanted...
...II These election agents are the top sergeants of the British political battle...
...So thorough is the canvass that an experienced agent can predict the vote within one per cent well before election day...
...Reading the accounts of the Kefauver Committee, the British have been puzzled to learn that one of the main activities of the political underworld is the protection of gambling...
...Such a team would have to begin by observing that political alertness, like high productivity, is not a matter of techniques alone...
...This is done street by street, and no possible supporter is left unsummoned...
...Runners bring the names to the neighborhood headquarters, and they are checked off on the printed registration pages...
...He and his voluntary helpers cut out the pages and paste them on stout cardboard...
...Dewey would be President today...
...Americans pay a high price for pretending to be more strait-laced than they are...
...They are also interested in getting out the highest possible vote...
...Churchill down, come to the constituency to speak for him and for their party...
...As the party machines square off for the next round, this is a point to which Labor agents are giving earnest attention...
...They emphasize the importance of the total national vote for each party, as well as the place it wins in Parliament...
...In part, this is due to the fact that Britain is a more homogeneous and self-disciplined community...
...this is one big reason why he is less alert and enterprising...
...Millions of Americans have somehow acquired the conviction that high productivity is good in itself, while viewing politics as a rather shabby affair, and not something in which the best people willingly take part...
...From then on, he pays his own way, and his expenditures are limited by law...
...They see every voter, not once but several times, in the course of the campaign...
...Politics, on the other hand, is held in very high esteem, and attracts some of the ablest and most public-spirited young people in each generation...
...Here again the shortage of money and manpower is something of an obstacle, and the party machines may have to do more of this work in the future...
...Although the polling hours, from seven in the morning until nine in the evening, are generous, there might be an advantage in holding elections on a Sunday or a holiday, as in places on the Continent...
...Some British traditions and techniques may not be suited to America...
...The business man has never had the prestige in Britain that he enjoys in the United States...
...Each voter is visited, and rated by the canvasser as "Labor," "Conservative," "Liberal," or "Doubtful...
...After looking at the American election results, more than one observer has asked: "If the voice of the people is the voice of God, whose voice is the silence of the people...
...The lists of registered voters are posted in each precinct some time before they are closed...
...All these traditions and practices contribute to the large-scale turnout of British voters...
...Incidentally, it is not required in Britain that a candidate reside in the constituency, and many, in fact, are chosen from outside...
...When the date of a General Election is announced, the agents and candidates simply shift their smooth-running machines into high gear...
...But they are worth considering...
...If the contest is an important one, national leaders, from the Prime Minister and Mr...
...Local elections come at regular dates, as in America, and provide trial runs...
...Or voting might be made compulsory, as it is in Australia and Belgium...
...Had the Republicans done half so good a job...
...Since it is a matter of pride with each local government unit to achieve maximum registration, the officials often go further than this...
...It could, of course, be made even greater...
...Here the British system, by which candidates can shop around for constituencies rather than be restricted to the one in which they live, serves to keep up the minority party's interest even in rock-ribbed Labor or Conservative strongholds...
...The only effort required of the citizen is to fill out the form for himself and his family and drop it, free of postage, in the nearest mailbox...
...It is a matter of direct personal interest to him, as well...
...The sitting Member of Parliament is constantly visiting his constituency...
...Application forms are delivered by local government officials at every doorstep in Britain once each year (it used to be twice a year, and will be again when Britain can afford it...
...Registration nowadays is only the beginning of the agent's job...
...From DAVID C. WILLIAMS is stationed in London as British representative of Americans for Democratic Action...
...The candidate who is certain of victory takes pride in exceeding any previous majority...
...His articles on Great Britain have appeared in The Nation, New Republic, Commentary, and the New Leader, while his interpretations of American political developments have been published in Tribune and other British publications...
...His watchers at the polls note down every person who has voted...
...But Parliamentary campaigning never comes to a full stop...
...most forms of it are perfectly legal in Britain, widely popular, and a source of considerable tax income for the state...
Vol. 15 • March 1951 • No. 3
