US Citizens: Should Voting for Federal Elections be Mandatory?

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Incodcito

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Nov 8, 2010
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Yes, No, or Other?
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I think it should be mandatory, though I would exempt people religiously disinclined from voting, instead providing them an option to go to the polling place and sign a form stating they won't vote. Also, if you don't like the choice/don't wanna make a choice, you should have the option of "voting" blank or none of the above.

I'm sure the civil libertarians in this forum will get upset at this, but we already have so many different forms of government compulsion ranging from taxes to speed limits to jury duty. What is one more compulsion that ensures that everyone's voice will be heard?
 
Some people just don't care about politics. If they don't, why should they have to give a vote? Donkey voting (Voting for the first name listed) will become more common and politics will be totally ridiculous.

To the list of things you gave, speed limits are a law and condition of using the roads, so that's not the same thing. Taxes are morally questionable anyway, but collecting them from an unwilling person won't really collapse the country like forcing people to vote though. I'm not crazy about forcing jury duty, but someone has to do it, right? I'd rather financially compensate jurors who are chosen than force them to attend however.
 
Incodcito said:
I'm sure the civil libertarians in this forum will get upset at this, but we already have so many different forms of government compulsion ranging from taxes to speed limits to jury duty. What is one more compulsion that ensures that everyone's voice will be heard?
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I'm a civil libertarian and certainly do disagree with this. Voting is a constitutional right, but like any other constitutional right, it includes the right to not partake.

Edit: on a more prosaic level, the more people that don't vote, the more my own vote counts. :mischief:
 
Domination3000 said:
Some people just don't care about politics. If they don't, why should they have to give a vote? Donkey voting (Voting for the first name listed) will become more common and politics will be totally ridiculous.

To the list of things you gave, speed limits are a law and condition of using the roads, so that's not the same thing. Taxes are morally questionable anyway, but collecting them from an unwilling person won't really collapse the country like forcing people to vote though. I'm not crazy about forcing jury duty, but someone has to do it, right? I'd rather financially compensate jurors who are chosen than force them to attend however.
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And what of the conditions of living in a Democracy?

And we already have Donkey Voting. I doubt it would increase.
 
Voting is a right, not a duty. Forcing someone to do something against their will is the antithesis of liberty. And to do so with people who don't see much difference between the two flavors of ice cream presented makes as much sense as forcing western values and morals on unwilling eastern countries. Not voting actually sends a much clearer message than blindly supporting such an absurd political system.

Besides, what makes anybody think the outcome of elections would likely be any different in the vast majority of cases? So what's the point?
 
I'd argue voting is a civic duty like jury duty and filling out your census.

I'd also argue the US could raise its turnout simply by not voting on a friggin Tuesday and by having more competitive elections (less gerrymandering, and preferences or prop-rep rather than FPTP).

Low turnout is a self-fulfilling prophecy, it makes the system less and less representative of the actual people's actual opinions.
 
I'm ambivalent, really. There are pros and cons. I don't think it's a particularly big deal in terms of what is best either way. Making more people vote means you get more uninformed voters, but also gives you a more representative result.

And yeah, not voting on the weekend is a bit silly, and compulsory voting kinda relies on voting being accessible and convenient.
 
I've seen the argument that compulsory voting would not likely change outcomes. It seems persuasive. I would like to see more people vote. But I don't know that this is the way to go.
 
Formaldehyde said:
Not voting actually sends a much clearer message than blindly supporting such an absurd political system.
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It doesn't really. Nobody cares if voter turnout in less than 30%...that doesn't change how anybody governs, since the message is really unclear. Did a lot of conservative voters stay home because they thought an election wasn't in doubt? Were voting procedures too complicated? Was it apathy? Was it inconvenient? Nobody really knows.

If you want to send a message that the two main candidates suck, make sure you vote, and then write in a guy or go 3rd party. People do notice on the rare times when a 3rd party candidate gets into the double digits in an election.
 
Actually, an informal vote sends a clearer message than a non-vote. A non-vote could indicate sheer apathy, but an informal vote means you've gone to the bother of turning up to the polling booth to make your point.
 
Cutlass said:
I've seen the argument that compulsory voting would not likely change outcomes. It seems persuasive. I would like to see more people vote. But I don't know that this is the way to go.
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Counterpoint: Compare the mid-terms to the vote for the presidentiary. The character of the voting population between 40% and 65% is substantially different. Even if it's still the two major parties, the types of campaigns, the strategies, are totally different.

Why wouldn't 90% be different again?
 
I'd rather have voting be a duty than a right, honestly. It's win-win because it allows everyone's interests to be taken into account, moderates the voting base, and makes the need to mobilize the party base redundant.
 
Rugbyleaguefan said:
We have compusory voting and it hasn't " collapsed the country"
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It collapses the Political System, since people who don't care will still vote.

Formaldehyde said:
Voting is a right, not a duty. Forcing someone to do something against their will is the antithesis of liberty. And to do so with people who don't see much difference between the two flavors of ice cream presented makes as much sense as forcing western values and morals on unwilling eastern countries. Not voting actually sends a much clearer message than blindly supporting such an absurd political system.

Besides, what makes anybody think the outcome of elections would likely be any different in the vast majority of cases? So what's the point?
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:goodjob:

The only problem with this post was "Forcing Western Values on unwilling Eastern Countries." You mean forcing protection of minority rights? I'm OK with that.

Camikaze said:
Making more people vote means you get more uninformed voters,
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Yep, that's one reason its wrong.

Now, as for the weekend, I agree with your point, but remember its required by law to give employees time off to vote.
 
downtown said:
f you want to send a message that the two main candidates suck, make sure you vote, and then write in a guy or go 3rd party.
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Right. That really sends a much better message and totally rationalizes the complete waste of time.

What I would like to see is internet voting. If I can do it from home in a minute or less, I might even take the time to write in Mickey Mouse for president.

Domination3000 said:
The only problem with this post was "Forcing Western Values on unwilling Eastern Countries." You mean forcing protection of minority rights? I'm OK with that.
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Why do you hate their right to lack of freedom and liberty in their own country? And are you willing to start with the US, Israel and every other US ally?
 
Right. That really sends a much better message and totally rationalizes the complete waste of time.
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Actually it does. I wouldn't force it, but it does send a better interest. Doing that basically says "We need better government" instead of "I don't care what the government does."

What I would like to see is internet voting. If I can do it from home in a minute or less, I might even take the time to write in Mickey Mouse for president.
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If they could do internet voting in a way that would minimize cheating, I'd be for it, but seriously, Mickey Mouse? You must be joking.
Why do you hate their right to lack of freedom and liberty in their own country?
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I hate the right to persecute minorities. Note that I'm not saying that we should simply invade every country that deprives people of rights, that would be irrational and we'd have to attack every country on the planet, including ourselves. I'm not even saying we should attack anyone. But what I AM saying is that people don't have a right to impose tyranny on other people, no matter how much "Their values" want them too. Just because we can't intervene in every one doesn't change that point.

And are you willing to start with Israel and every other US ally?
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I'd like to start with France actually. Darn burqa banning totalitarians!;)

But seriously, I absolutely think our list of allies needs to be reduced. This isn't the Cold War anymore. I mean, seriously? We just borderline invaded our ally the other day:)

Israel though? They are a loyal ally and champion of Democracy in the Middle East, and that nonsense about them violating human rights is just that... nonsense.
 
What army would enforce it? Would they get a fair trial?

Apathy destroys a country. If every one voted it would just take longer to tally the results.
 
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