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| Stop me if I'm being too logical. |
President Obama on Wednesday suggested that if U.S. voters want to counter the outsized influence of money in politics, it might be a good idea to adopt mandatory voting.
"Other countries have mandatory voting," Mr. Obama said at a town hall-style event in Cleveland, Ohio, citing places like Australia. "It would be transformative if everybody voted -- that would counteract money more than anything."
The president continued, "The people who tend not to vote are young, they're lower income, they're skewed more heavily toward immigrant groups and minorities... There's a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls."
Get-out-the-vote efforts are a costly part of political campaigns, and yet voter turnout in the U.S. remains low -- in last year's midterm elections, the national turnout rate was just 36.3 percent.
As Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus noted, there were 11 countries as of November 2014 that have mandatory voting rules, including Australia. Even though Australians can be fined for failing to vote (or even thrown in jail for failing to vote repeatedly), the law is popular.
Of course there are two big problems with implementing such a rule in America, one is our fetish for what we perceive to be free will, and the other is that if ALL voters voted the Republicans would never win another election, which means they would fight this with every fiber of heir being.
In my opinion it is a fantastic idea.
After all we have to get our kids vaccinated, and put them into car seats to keep them safe, why shouldn't we have to vote to keep our democracy safe as well?
Update: As you may have guessed Fox News and the Right Wing are having a meltdown over the idea of mandatory voting.
Look any idea that freaks the conservatives out this much I think is worth considering.
I would like to see more people turn out vote now I don't believe it should be mandatory but perhaps some kind of a bribe to get people to their civic duty
ReplyDeleteIt will never be mandatory...but let's make early voting mandatory in every state. The fact the people can't get to the polls on ONE day because they can't get off of work is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteYeah, mandatory voting probably won't happen in the good ol' USandA but voting day could be a national holiday.
ReplyDeleteI love it when the right wing explodes.
ReplyDeleteI totally think voting day should be a holiday---you know because the republicans are going to make sure there is one voting booth per city polling place while the burbs will have fifty.
Making voting in the US mandatory won't get rid of money in politics. Those with self-serving messages will still donate ridiculous piles of money to be heard and to get preferential treatment. And our governing body will still gladly take that money and campaign for those wealthy donors (unless we repeal Citizen's United). What will happen is that everyone will either have to open their eyes and ears to understand the changes that will affect their lives if they vote for x or y or they will just not care and mark their ballots using the enie-meenie-minie-mo method. Either way, they will have to at least move in the direction of a voting booth and read the ballots.
ReplyDeleteCan't side with the President on this one. Yes, voting participation in this country stinks, but it should be the right of people to choose not to vote.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think that there should be a national holiday or entire weekend dedicated for national elections.
@6:24 -- Don't you think that as a citizen, you should be "obligated" to vote for your government? You partake of the benefits deriving from it, you pay your taxes into it, what is wrong with being obligated to vote?
DeleteToo many Americans (IMHO) spout the "freedom" mantra, without really understanding that with freedoms come responsibilities.
Maple, you really are not a very deep thinker. Very shallowest end of the pool. Best to keep your ignorance to yourself, and remember to wear your floaties.
Delete@ 10:27 -- Project much? If you don't understand that every freedom you enjoy also comes with responsibility, then it would probably behoove you NOT to vote. It would be a favour to critical thinkers everywhere.
DeleteAgain Maple. Dumb as a rock.
DeleteOut of curiosity, how do you infer that people are to be responsible for freedoms, when you take that very responsibility away, by legally obligating them to do something? There is no responsibility in that, and there is no freedom in that.
You really are a dipshit Maple. Have a nice communist weekend.
10:27/12:24 you really strike me as the dumb and shallow thinker. The present system needs some tweeking. When less than half registered voter participate you can end up getting people doing things like stealing elections with the help of the supreme court and other things. Take your conservative brain elsewhere.
DeleteLol. I see 1:45.... it must be 'the man' again stopping people from voting. It is always 'the mans' fault. The present system allows and provides for all eligible voters to vote. Freedom doesn't correlate with forcing apathetic people to vote. Fuck them, they don't vote, they don't have a right to complain. Where in the world did you infer I am a conservative dumbass? BTW I am not taking my smart brain anywhere, you need some intelligence around here.
DeleteObama never said he was in favor of it, or making it happen. He simply stated a fact that other countries do it, and then he added that it would be transformative if everyone voted and that that act would make the financial contributions not as powerful.
ReplyDeleteWe are obligated to pay taxes, obligated to have a driver's licence and insurance on our cars. Sometimes we are obligated to to fight and die in wars. Why not be obligated to vote?
ReplyDeleteI think expanding the voting options to include "none of the above", "indict", and "get rid of the scumbag" would attract a number of voters.
ReplyDeleteI like this way of thinking. I am not going to be forced into voting for the lesser of two evils which happens a lot in politics. I am not going to be guilty of bombing some child because I helped put somebody in office that made the order to do so.
DeleteIf you put somebody in office you have to take ownership of their choices. They wouldn't be able to make those choices if you did not put them there.
Now if I can mark "none of the above" I have zero issue making it mandatory.
A professor I had in college always said "if you don't vote, then you have no business complaining when politicians get out of line."
ReplyDeleteI fail to understand the reasons for not voting. It is a right and a privilege that many in less open countries fight and die for.
ReplyDeleteMaybe one wouldn't have to vote for the "lessor of two evils" if more people got involved in the process! We have the government that we chose by those who voted and those who didn't think their vote mattered! America has one of the lowest percentage of voter turn out in elections because of this attitude. Sad, sad, sad.
Australian reader here:
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify. We don't actually have to vote for a candidate, we have to turn up to the polling place and receive our vote cards (or equivalent), we can then 'no vote', protest vote or 'dangling chad' to our hearts content.
We also can do the same via early postal voting if we happen to be out of town or working that Saturday.
We also have enough polling stations, that if you live in a metro area, odds are its no more there is one no more than a 15 min walk away.