I AM not sure that increasing the voting population would make our voting system fairer or more effective (Letters, May 31).

Still, I agree with Laura Theobold’s argument in general.

We have made the act of voting as tedious and as disagreeable as one could possibly wish.

Polling stations seem to be chosen for their desolate dreariness. They are as uplifting to the human spirit as a station waiting room after midnight.

The shabby meanness of the “voting experience” is exemplified by the pencil stub on a string. Compare this with that other symbol of democracy: petitions. These can be accessed in the discomfort of one’s home at the flick of a mouse, and signed and despatched between mouthfuls of diet Coke.

Of course, petitions are not taken by the Commons as seriously as they were in the 17th century, but this does not affect the validity of the comparison.

We do not know why the majority of people do not vote, but responsible voters are dismayed that they do not.

You couldn’t sell beer and beefburgers the way we try to sell democracy.

Laura Theobold is right.

William Dixon Smith, Welland Rise, Acomb, York.