It's all over the news today that Obama floated the idea of mandatory voting: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/politics/obama-mandatory-voting/index.html
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I'm on the, "it's a terrible idea" side. My thoughts on voting are more in line with this article:
If someone is not responsible enough to do the research, I don't want them voting.
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I think mandatory voting sounds like a ridiculous idea. If someone has no interest in voting, I think it is ridiculous to force them. Also, this is a free country, so mandatory voting seems to go against American principles. Not surprised Obama floated this idea. It's technically against the law to not have health insurance too right? Even if you don't want it? Constitutional for sure.
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I need more information on how that would work..... I don't really understand the idea.
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I'd rather make it a mandatory day off or half day so people could have the time to do it and/or expansion of early voting.
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@Mrs. Tiger: I like this idea. My voting place is far away from my work place and daycare, so it's a production trying to vote before or after work because I can't get there on my lunch break.
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One problem with this idea is enforcement. A law that says "you must do X" is basically worthless unless there is some stick to get people to do X (Obamacare, for example, has such a stick--in general you pay a "tax"/penalty if you do not buy insurance).
Enforcement is not free. I gather that Australia imposes fines on non-voters, but I doubt that they collect enough in fines to offset the cost of administering the law. Spending tax revenues to force people to vote is a waste of government funds.
@Mrs. Tiger: What about early voting and absentee voting? Many of our polls were open daily for at least a week ahead of the actual election day last year. Those times may not have all been perfectly convenient for everyone (although I think they generally spanned something like 10 hours a day, including on Saturday and Sunday), but there were definitely a lot of options.
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This is a terrible idea. Why on Earth would we want people to take part in directing the future of our country when they are apathetic enough about it that they won't do it unless forced.
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I'm not really sure how I feel about it, but jury service is mandatory even if you don't want to do it, so I don't see how requiring people to vote would be so outrageous. There are plenty of people who vote who are uninformed and vote a particular way because that's how their friends/family vote, so I'm not sure that that's a good reason to automatically rule it out either. Guess I'll have to think about it a little more.
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I wish the focus would be on figuring out other methods to get people to vote, not just relying on absentee ballots and going to the polls in person. It just doesn't compute in my head as to why we can't figure it out when the corporate world has shareholders all over the world and they don't have to show up in person to vote their shares.
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@lawbee11: I agree with you.
I think the bigger issue is just making it EASIER for people to vote. Not everyone who doesn't vote is apathetic about it.
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I would like to see online voting first!
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That's an awful idea. It would just create an illusion of choice where there often isn't one. The things I hear from people who work in local government are just outrageous, but voting wouldn't even touch them because the officials involved are not elected and not in the public eye. I imagine a lot of the federal government runs the same way. Besides, what would the punishment be for those who don't vote?
Incidentally, Soviet Russia had mandatory voting at the most totalitarian point in its history. I mean, there was no law on the books that you had to vote, but if you didn't show up you weren't seen as a loyal citizen and there might be repercussions. And all that forced voting did not in any way increase democracy, because the party had already chosen the candidates and issues on the ballot.
@Mrs. Tiger: that's a great idea! I haven't voted in the last couple of years, even when I wanted to, because my voting place is near my house and I had enough on my plate just trying to get to and from work on time.
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@lawbee11: Don't you have to be a registered voter to be called to jury duty, so technically not mandatory?
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I have no opinion on mandatory voting, but like
@Mrs. Tiger: and @avivoca: mentioned, along those lines, in many European countries voting is on the weekend (sometimes both Saturday and Sunday) when a lot more people aren't working and can get to voting centers more easily. -
@mrscobee: In my state it's done by lists of registered voters and those with driver's licenses/identification cards. You don't have to be a registered voter.
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Terrible idea. Let's "force" lots of uninformed people to vote. That will go well.
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@lawbee11: Oh, got it! Thanks for the clarification. Is it only driver's licenses or driver's licenses and photo IDs? Because I guess technically you wouldn't have to have a driver's license either, although I know for most Americans you do need a driver's license practically speaking!
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Voting is mandatory in my husband's country and elections are held on Sunday. Other random facts about their election process - poll workers are selected by lottery and is non-voluntary like our jury system. Also, it is illegal to sell or serve alcohol on the day before or of the election.
I'm on the fence about it, but leaning toward thinking its a good idea, but they would have to make it much, much easier to vote. Mostly I would really like to see the two-party primary system go away if we are talking about overhauling part of our election system because I think it makes it very hard for moderate candidates to be viable.
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@lawbee11: just went to jury duty last week and the judge told us the response rate is about 35%, so it's "mandatory" but not really enforced.
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@mrscobee: I think the tricky thing with jury service is you have to be a citizen of the county in which you serve. So going through records like voter registration and driver's license lists is the easiest way to summon people by county. I'm not sure how else you could do it. And I think a majority of people 18 and over do have one of those forms of identification.
@mrs.shinerbock: Oh yeah, totally get that. I'd expect that even if voting was mandatory we wouldn't get anywhere near 100% voter turnout. I was mostly saying that because I don't think it's somehow un-American to require people to vote just like I don't think it's un-American to require people to serve on juries.
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@lawbee11: It's required to show up for jury duty but you are not forced to participate if you have certain convictions or cannot be impartial. At least in the courtrooms I work in that's the case. We don't want people on a jury that don't want to be there, and I don't know I want people at the polls voting that don't want to be a part of it.
The only thing is you can't complain about the system if you don't participate!
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@Tanjowen: Even if you've got certain convictions or can't be impartial you still have to show up and voice those. That's the beauty of the write-in. If you're pissed and don't want to be forced to vote then just write-in "Big Bird"
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Horrible idea.
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I think I might support it, depending on how it were going to be implemented. As it is, I feel like every workplace/job in the country should have the option for late arrival, leaving early, or longer lunch break to accomodate.
Last year, my workplace scheduled freaking parent conference night on voting day--and just said, oh well, you can leave work at 3 to vote and come back by 6. Well, no one actually leaves at 3--ever! And I have a 1 hour commute (2 hours rt) and a baby to pick up at daycare and feed dinner to---how would I do all of that in less than 3 hours? Not Possible.
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LOVE the idea! Australia does compulsory voting and I think it's great! Sure you can choose not vote, but then you pay the $100 fine. I think it eliminates the problem America has with people being apathetic and not turning up to vote, with the result being that the more vocal minority who turn up to vote in droves, having a greater influence on the outcome than they statistically should.
I am 100% in support of compulsory voting. Also, if people had to vote, maybe a few more people would actually pay attention to what is going on in the world.... It works brilliantly in Australia (as do a number of other major social systems) and I think America could take a page out of their book.
ETA: everyone knows voting is compulsory in Australia so workplaces make allowances for people to vote and the polls have opening times with that in mind.
ETA2: Duh, forgot to mention elections are held on Saturdays so it is far easier for most people to vote! Didn't remember that bit in my original post as I knew DH was off work one year when he voted but was working during another election (he worked most Saturdays at that point).
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@Ree723: Just curious, and I think someone brought this up, but how do they enforce the fine? What does it cost the country of Australia to enforce the fine?
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@mrscobee: Good question. In all the years I lived in Australia, I never once heard about the enforcement of mandatory voting being an issue, thereby leading me to believe it is NOT an issue. In looking through Australia's AEC website (Australian Electoral Commission - the government body in charge of overseeing elections), there is some good information there should anyone care to take a look through.
Basically, the bottom line is that you are to enrol on the electoral roll once you turn 18 and then keep your details updated. As Australia has a lot of wonderful social systems in place, the main one being universal healthcare, managed by the government, the government agencies all actually talk to each other and share information. So when updating your details on Medicare, which you would want to do as that provides your free health care, that information also cross checks with the AEC and other relevant agencies to ensure they all have the correct information.
If a person doesn't vote, they are issued a penalty notice and given 28 days to pay it. If you have a valid excuse, you need to provide supporting documentation to have the fine waived. If you wish to dispute it, you can have the matter taken to court but if the judgment goes against you, your fine is now double and you have to pay all of the court costs. Win win situation in terms of deterring people from skipping their civic duty.
Truly though, the enforcement of it is not an issue that I have ever heard of. Australia has something like a 98% voter turnout, which means you have a very small number of the population to chase after....and the chasing after requires very little energy (we should know, DH accidentally missed an election as we had just moved to a new city and didn't know there was a local election occurring!). My understanding is also that most people who receive a fine, pay it without issue and the matter is over.
Now the bigger problem is the donkey votes - people who don't want to vote, don't like any of the candidates, or are just being asses in general, and full in the vote incorrectly. Nothing you can do about that though!
Here are some reputable links if you'd like to look further, including some information on the pros and cons of compulsory voting.
http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/publications/voting/
http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/voting/penalties_for_not_voting
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@Ree723: Thanks for the detailed answer. All very interesting! I'll have to look at those links. I am shocked that they have such a good turnout! Somehow, I can't see us ever being able to achieve the same 98% statistic!
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Voting is a right people can choose to exercise or not.
Instead of requiring everyone to cast a ballot I would like to see barriers to voting eliminated. Remove the voter registration aspect and just make it automatic that once you turn 18 you can vote. Offer more polling places because long waits are burdensome for people that only get paid when they work or do not have time off available. Eliminate the multiple forms of ID that can be costly to obtain or time consuming to obtain for the same reasons like the polling places.
People who don't vote often say it's because their vote doesn't count anyway. Somehow we need to get people to understand that your candidate losing or your measure not passing doesn't mean your vote didn't count it just means you lost. Hillary Clinton said her 18 million primary votes made 18 million dents in the political glass ceiling. Now, we have potential female candidates on both sides being taken serious for this upcoming presidential election. We need some nonzvoters to realize voting does matter and votes, even losing ones, can influence.
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My first reaction was that it was a bad idea, but reading about Australia in this thread has been very interesting. Definitely we first need to work on making it easier to vote. Maybe a federal holiday or at least a weekend so we all have time to go. Perhaps instead of a fine like Australia's, we could have a small incentive to vote (like a tax credit).
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Agree with you completely on removing barriers to voting. Also, I like the idea of moving voting to a Saturday.
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