Compulsory Voting: Moral Issues and Necessities in A Democratic Nation

Since the establishment of our great country, Americans utilized the ballot box as a freedom of expression. Voting is a basic right that many of us take for granted, some even viewing it as a “God given right.” As citizens, we expect the right to vote. Many oblivious to the fact that voting is a privilege that can be revoked. The process, commonly referred to as disenfranchisement, is the principle reason for my summary. Today more than ever, one of America's post-election concerns is voter turnout. Usually, the numbers are bleak, especially during local elections. As a society, we cannot afford to turn our back on one of the pillars of a democracy. If elected officials are to represent segments of voters, then people from all

Voting, an important and vital aspect of living in a democratic state, remains a phenomenon that most do not have direct access to. Allowing green card holders and eighteen-year old registered members the right to vote along with mandatory voting can stimulate the political freedoms that makes democracies great. Analyzing the different improvements and changes that can be implemented, can offer deeper insight into the U.S. voting process.

With these falling turnout rates, I decided to visit 3 local constituencies and explore the reasons why people do not vote through conducting a questionnaire. With over 200 people undertaking this questionnaire, and 89 of these 207 saying they did not vote, my results held some authority. Around a third of those who claimed not to vote said they did not due to being disillusioned with the party system. However, the largest proportion at 54% of those questioned stated that

Without a doubt, compulsory voting is an infringement of liberty as stated in the U.S. Constitution. Voting is not an imperative obligation and forcing it would contravene the first five basic freedoms of U.S. citizens guaranteed by the First Amendment.

I disagree with the statement that voting should be made mandatory. If voting was made mandatory, many people who don't know anything about politics would be voting. A lot of people in our country do not know much about our government, which is a serious issue. Many young people also don't care to vote, so we shouldn't try to make them.

First, compulsory voting goes against the freedom associated with democracy. When it comes to voting people has the freedom to speak or not say anything. It seems unusual to have an action that many consider as a right as a required duty. In text 3, it states “...some people might even interpret mandatory voting as a violation of [the] First Amendment’s prohibition of compelled speech.” Compelling people goes against our democratic rights. To make people vote politicians should be able to persuade the importance of voting for them to citizens. In text 4, it states “In the 2008 US Presidential election, people sensed a new political

First of all the article says that making voting mandatory in countries such as Belgium, Australia or Greece resulted in higher voter turnout. The author notes that in countries with non-mandatory voting, the turnout is rather low (eg. 60 percent). The lecturer debuts this argument by asking if high voter turnout is good after all. He claims that less voters means more informed voters; people who go to the elections really want to vote and generally vote smarter.

Throughout history, the United States has been in battles over rights, including the right to vote. The right to vote defines our nation as a democracy and should be offered to all people. There is an estimated 6.1 million American felons, as of 2016, that cannot vote because of felony conviction (6 Million Lost Voters: State-Level Estimates of Felony Disenfranchisement, 2016). According to Map of State Felon Voting Laws - Felon Voting - ProCon.org. (2017), only 14 out of 50 states allow felons to vote after their term of incarceration. Felons have often committed horrendous crimes, but they will remain a part of our democratic society and we can learn from what they have to say. Although, some argue that voting is an earned privilege and prisoners do not deserve equal rights, ex-convicts should be given full voting rights because they engage in the domestic process, they are still apart of society, and voting is a constitutional right for all citizens of the United States.

We become citizens at birth, yet we often do not live up to the responsibilities of our birthright. By birth, we are responsible for the safety of our nation. We are also responsible for the environment, the standard of education, and the productivity. Nevertheless, few people stand up for these important matters and even fewer put forth the effort in order to make a change.

After Australia, Singapore, and Switzerland implemented compulsory voting and the turnout of voters grew, other democratic countries began wondering if the idea should be implemented globally. Research began on how this implementation affected countries with compulsory voting in place and how it would affect other countries such as Canada (Twomey, 2013). The idea that Canada, or another similarly democratic country, should pass a policy of compulsory voting would be against the very foundation of freedom that defines a democratic state. It brings to mind three questions with it, is voting a right or duty, does it change the level of intelligent political participation, and does the compulsion goes against all

Across the globe day after day, nations have been progressively attempting to improve the political systems in which they inhabit, the most prominent political system currently standing as democracy. But what exactly constitutes as democracy? Democracy is a term holding a spectrum of meanings, many frequently overlapping. In its simplest, most basic form, democracy is referred to “rule of the people.” Being the broad term it is, democracy tends to be represented in various ways around the world. Despite these differences in representation, the endgame is all the same, a rule in the interest of the people. Using specific countries as models, I strategize to discuss the differences between compulsory voting in Australia and voluntary voting in Canada to determine whether compulsory voting augments the quality of democracy. In this essay, I argue compulsory voting enhances the quality of democracy. Through the lens of different voting systems, I plan to defend my claim by discussing the effect that voter turnout, civic duty and accurate representation has on the quality of democracy. While voting is only one of the countless elements involved in politics, it continues to be the very foundation of our democracy, affecting every aspect of our lives. Whether compulsory or voluntary, voting exists as a link between ourselves and those who have the authority to implement our interests. The ability to vote is a

In other democratically run systems, such as Australia and Brazil, there are laws that state every person must vote or face minor penalties such as fines. Whether these laws are democratic or if they violate the democratic rights of the civilian population is a debate in the political science field, with pros and cons for both sides. Voting can be seen as a civil liberty that every person may express in a democratic society and allows for a portion of the government to be influenced by the everyday

Mandatory voting has been a topic of debate in democratic countries since the creation of democratic republics themselves. Voting is a crucial part of democracy because it determines who will be the leaders of both the voters and nonvoters. It is the right of a citizen to vote, but whether or not it is the responsibility remains disputed. However, voting must be performed with a basic understanding of policy and what it takes for someone to fit the role which they are running for. Voting should not be compulsory because it results in more uneducated voting that counteracts the educated voting.

According to the Fourteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution, voting rights are entitled to anyone over the age of eighteen, but voting rights for convicted felons are basically nonexistent. When one makes a bad decision, many consequences come into play, and their voting rights is one of those consequences. The Election Code for the State of Texas states that, “once a felon has successfully completed his or her punishment, including any term of incarceration, parole, supervision, period of probation, or has been pardoned, then that person is immediately eligible to register to vote.”, meaning that as long as all requirements have been met, one has regained his or her right to vote. A felony is defined as “a serious criminal offense, punishment by a prison sentence or a fine. A capital felony is punishable by death or a life sentence” (Governing Texas, 447). There are degrees of felonies, some have stricter sentences than others. Even though they are felons, they are still apart of society, and if they are a part of society, they should be treated like everyone else around them, meaning that they should never lose their voting rights.

An obvious benefit of mandatory voting is that it would increase the voter turnout drastically. Other countries have already proven this. Belgium's voter turnout is one of the highest in the world.4 Perhaps this is due to the fact that Belgium implemented compulsory voting in 1892 for men and in 1949 for women.5 This is just one country though. If it was the only one with these results, one could claim that there is no correlation between compulsory voting and high voter turnouts. However, Belgium, Turkey, and Australia all have mandatory voting and average voter turnouts above 80%.6 In fact, Australia had similar turnout rates to the United States before adopting compulsory voting. In its election of 1925, the voter turnout jumped