What is your opinion of compulsory voting?

What is your opinion of compulsory voting?

In order to make that a reality, you would have to have a national holiday. And even then, I don't know how you would enforce it.

The only way to get more people to the polls, is to give them a candidate worth voting for. I don't understand why that simple reality is too much for the "consultants" to understand.

we are partially in the predicament we are in for precisely the reason that it takes less than 25% of the electorate to win a general election(fewer)if you own the USSupCT and the electronic voting machines.

And while we are reforming elections, toss out the stupid electoral college and elect the president through direct vote, requiring a majority of votes to win in an instant run-off system. Standardize all voting equipment to use verified paper ballots.

But, if it were to happen, employees should be required to provide proof to their employers (a receipt issued at the polling place for example), that they actually voted and didn't just take advantage of the day to go and fuck-off doing something else.

Not to make it an onerous task that you have to validate with your employer. An election day holiday would be a nice secular national event, and instead of having rush to the polls either before or after work, it could be a relaxed enjoyable day of civic pride and reflection. I believe lots of nations do this, and it seems to work just fine.

instead of memorial day. :crazy:

We need less government interference in our lives... not more.

What is needed is more directed education about citizenship and what is entailed.

An informed electorate has power. Mindless voters with no understanding of their actions, as would be the case with mandated voting, defeat the idea of representitive democracy.

New citizens being made every day, know more about our system of governance than most of our young just graduating from college.

As a matter of fact, students at the high school level around the world know more than our students do about our Democratic Republic.

Education...that is the only answer. For Moms and Dads...you have failed in your most important job if you fail to enlighten your kids to what we have and what we may yet lose.

If you don't vote and don't have a good reason (sick or whatever)...You're Fined 100 bucks.

Without resorting to fascism, anyway.

fine them 100 bucks.?

It gives power to chimps.

and... "friends don't let friends vote drunk".

:rofl:

It may be a stereotype to some extent, but I'd be willing to bet that Freepers drink far more flavorless piss water "beer" than Liberals do. :beer:

Maybe we should only allow people to vote who drink beer made in Belgium or Holland?

People would just write in Peewee Herman if they didn't want to vote...And if sucha movement got big enough, we could have a real mess.

God knows we don't need any more ignorant voters.

Some of the first countries that introduced mandatory voting laws were Belgium in 1892, Argentina in 1914 and Australia in 1924.

It's time we required people to be informed and to make electoral choices or pay a tax assessment if they choose not to vote.

it is one easy step to having it tell for whom you should vote?

Just my libertarian ruminations on giving the government even more power over citizens...

It doesn't matter how the government provides the incentive for voting or the disincentive for not. It's completely the individual's responsibility to be an informed voter.

argument is that if the state mandates voting, with punishments if people don't vote, then it is not "completely" the individual's responsibility. IOW, if the individual is not compelled by his or her own responsibility as a citizen living in a representative democracy, then the "responsibility" you talk about is transferred to the state. The citizen in that case might or might not become "informed." They might just vote uninformed to avoid a fine imposed by the state. We're not any further along in getting informed citizens in that case.

A better way, IMHO, is to provide for more civics classes, starting early in public schooling and continuing through 12th grade. That way, kids know from the start that becoming an informed citizen is what you learn to do, just as learning to drive a car is a skill you acquire as you grow up. That way, the state is helping the process of molding a responsible citizenry, but in a much more productive way!

A person shouldn't be "fined" for not voting, they should get a tax break for voting.

Civics has been under attack by Republicans on school boards for years as part of their strategy to drive down the vote.

people get it. I guess if we give middle class homeowners a tax break with their mortgages out of a public policy to encourage home ownership and hence community stability, we could do a tax credit for voting.

I hadn't heard that the repubs were behind the idea to discourage civics courses! I had assumed that civics was abandoned in favor of a different kind of presenting American history, but I really was just guessing. Do you have some sources about this? I'd like to find out more!

If Jury duty is mandatory, then voting certainly should be.

it is no different than getting a driver's license. People who want to drive learn the rules of the road enough to pass the test.

Do you really want to force all those ignoramuses to come out of the woodwork to vote for someone because the name looks familiar? Do you really want people voting just to get a slip of paper to show his boss that he voted to justify the day off? Not I.
I agree with the another poster here, give us honest candidates that really represent us, the common citizen and not some paid lobbyist. Then people will be more willing to educate themselves and vote.

Look at the idiots like Bush we get because those that vote don't spend much time thinking about their choices and keeping up on things.

Those who do not vote are even less involved with knowing what is going on.

It isn't as if these folks couldn't vote if they wanted to!

Forcing them to vote is actually going against their wills....

What are you going to do, imprison them for not voting?

Sometimes the best answer is freedom instead of coersion....

maybe if there's a $5 fine involved that goes to campaign finance or something.

My fear is that we'd end up with Ryan Seacrest as our next president.

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Grossman's Misquote of H.L. Mencken

Complex problems always have simple, easy to understand wrong answers.


Compulsory voting is a simple, easy to understand wrong answer.

Citizenship requires responsible participatiion in the exercise of the right of self-governance. That participation should be demanded equally from all citizens.

it would definitely cut down on the whining about elected officials. there should also be a fine involved in not participating.

Everybody has to take it in order to graduate from one level to the other and most importantly from high school, just like math, science and English. We can "force" people to be better informed citizens through our public school system. That's what education is all about, isn't it?

Yeah, I remember it. It starts out with: "We, the People."

James Madison said: "The People, who are its authors, must support and defend their Constitution against its enemies, taking up arms, if necessary....."

We, the People, can defend that Constitution by securing it against all enemies, foreign and domestic, with arms if necessary. But more realistically with our votes - electing those of us to office who will understand the oath they take upon assuming those offices.

The vote of each individual is the most powerful force there is in securing governments of, by, and for those people who use their precious elections wisely and regularly.

and the candidates. Do we want any more of the stupid people voting? Hello, President Huckabee.

I disagree with the idea of forced voting. It would seriously skew the elections. If people are too lazy to educate themselves about candidates NOW, they won't change if they're forced to vote. Random voting, anyone? I think there should be more voter EDUCATION, and I agree with the thought of a national holiday.