Compulsory Voting

[BlackMath]

I come from Australia, a country in which voting is compulsory. It is almost a consensus here that compulsory voting is a positive thing; it is usually only the younger or less politically inclined people who seem to disagree with this.
Although voting is indeed compulsory, there are many ways in which people avoid being on the electoral roll, indeed some people don't even bother showing up on election day and just cop the fine.

After continually hearing about the large amount of dissatisfaction with the current American Presidential Administration, I starting thinking about how compulsory voting would leave very little space for complaint. It also made me realise how a lot of people just don't even consider it as an option.

So anyway...


Arguments for Compulsory Voting:

- Parties spend more time trying to win swinging voters than trying to mobilize their own supporters; therefore preventing overtly partisan policies.

- It is a measure to prevent disenfranchisement of the socially disadvantaged, and mitigate the impact that external factors may have on an individual's capacity to vote (weather, transport, employer, etc).

- Parties spend money in all sections of society, not just those who are the most politically active.

- It guarantees that the government represents a majority of the population, not only individuals who vote.

-Political leaders of compulsory systems may claim greater political legitimacy than those of non-compulsory systems with lower voter turnout.


The forum is open for responses.

[trish]

too many idiots vote already. bush is in office because a significant portion of the electorate who had no substantial understanding of politics, thought they'd like to have a beer with him (this in spite of the fact that he's on the wagon). i'd be a favor a community service advertising campaign with the message:

If You Must Vote, Vote Responsibly.

[thx1138]

I could approve if one of the choices is: neither one of the candidates - pick others.

[hippifried]

I don't like compulsory anything. Well mostly. If you force people to do something they would rather not be involved with, they're more likely to do something to sabotage the process.

[BlackMath]

I could approve if one of the choices is: neither one of the candidates - pick others.

Well it's not like you only have two to choose from.

Besides, it's only compulsory to show up and get your name ticked off. Once you get a hold of a form and walk over to the ballot box, you can do as you like; draw smiley faces on the form or anything.

[DJ_Asia]

While there might be some positives from mandatory voting,I think that if that were to be a law in the states he with the most $$ would win everytime,for he/she could run the most TV ads and the mindless sheep,which represents the overwhelming majority of Americans anyways,would simply vote for the person they saw the most on TV.

[BlackMath]

While there might be some positives from mandatory voting,I think that if that were to be a law in the states he with the most $$ would win everytime,for he/she could run the most TV ads and the mindless sheep,which represents the overwhelming majority of Americans anyways,would simply vote for the person they saw the most on TV.

That's probably true.

[eggbert]

too many idiots vote already. bush is in office because a significant portion of the electorate who had no substantial understanding of politics, thought they'd like to have a beer with him (this in spite of the fact that he's on the wagon). i'd be a favor a community service advertising campaign with the message:

If You Must Vote, Vote Responsibly.

Trish, I agree completely. The founding fathers also agreed, thus the electoral college. When you put this country directly in the hands of the general population, you end up with the lowest common denominator, thus GWB. Now that the mass media has been mastered by the politically astute, our "chosen" leaders are going to be mediocre puppets at best. It's a sad, sad state of affairs.

[NewYorker]

While there might be some positives from mandatory voting,I think that if that were to be a law in the states he with the most $$ would win everytime,for he/she could run the most TV ads and the mindless sheep,which represents the overwhelming majority of Americans anyways,would simply vote for the person they saw the most on TV.

Isn't that already the case though?

[hippifried]

I always like the way everybody else are the mindless sheep.