Influence of Compulsory Voting

A very controversial topic in the United States is whether or not Americans should be required to vote. Voting is a very essential piece to democracy, but many Americans today are not attending their voting location and supporting the candidate they feel is best. In recent elections, just 60% of registered voters casted their vote for a candidate. This is an issue that many people are not happy about, but whether or not there is reason to fix it is the other side to the case. Voter participation is an issue that has been going on for years, and no laws are in place currently to bring it up. Americans have been proud to live in a “free country”, and a law forcing citizens to vote may be against America’s principles. Compulsory voting should

More than half of all citizens in the world are currently able to vote, however, many of them choose not to, leading to an increase of enforced mandatory voting in many countries. This essay will consider the role of compulsory voting and whether legally required voting reduces freedom. Compulsory voting is often supported due to the fact it considerably raises turnout, Birch 2009 found that mandatory attendance at the polls increased turnout by between 6 and 20 percent . Legally required voting is also considered to be an effective instrument to motivate citizens to express their voice in public life, thereby ensuring that their concerns will be heard, and potentially acted upon . However, opponents of compulsory voting argue that it violates freedom and reduces the legitimacy of the elected representatives . The first part of this essay will consider why compulsory voting was adopted, following this, I will consider the different types of freedom that may or may not be compromised with compulsory voting and how legally required voting could increase or decrease freedom.

A strong democratic government rest on citizens exercising their power of voting. Even though in many countries including United States, entitled voters don’t vote during Presidential Elections. This paper will explain that Federal Voting should be mandatory in United States. Many people in United States try their best to stay away from political affairs not realizing the importance politics. Voting is one of the most common ways to get involved in politics. Firstly this paper will state the main problems for the non-voters. Moving forward, why it is necessary and important to vote? And lastly the outcomes if people doesn’t voted. Votes determine who will be responsible in considering laws and their enforcement to all the Americans. By this

The debate over compulsory vs. non-compulsory voting is a complex subject matter to say the least, that has sparked much controversy in recent times with almost all strongly in favor of one side of the argument and or the other. This highly polarized debate has sparked in popularity in recent times because of a quote by former president Barak Obama in which he said that “It would be transformative if everybody voted”. It is believed that if everyone voted that could and was eligible then the domination of hard core partisans within the political system would be in part quelled as the candidates went where the votes are, which would be away from the extremes. Moreover some studies show that mandatory voting decreases the rates of uninformed voters within an area as voting becomes more of a civic duty than right. While the institution of compulsory voting would have a short term effect of increasing the rate of uninformed voters,

The idea of compulsory voting has been discussed for almost every democratic nation in the world. It has been shown to work for some nations but, would compulsory voting benefit the United States? Many have posited that if all were forced to vote, many would vote at random or on a whim, randomizing our democratic process. This would undermine our political system and put into office whoever happens to be randomly selected. Many who push for compulsory voting say that it will even the playing field, forcing those underprivileged parties that did not vote before to vote. I see this as a movement in the wrong direction. The people that should be voting are those who have an opinion on the election, or want one of the candidates over the others, but that is not always who is voting. Many either can not because it is too hard, or do not because they believe it is too hard. The effort should be spent on making voting accessible to every American citizen. In the end compulsory voting is not the solution to the problem of low voter turnout, as it raises many more problems in itself.

The voting rate in America has been very low the past few elections. There are many reasons people feel that people aren’t going to the polls to vote. For example so people believe that its because the people running for positions of power aren’t the the best so nobody votes. Other people believe that its or right as Americans to go to the polls on election day. Forcing People to go vote on election day is not democratic because we are given the freedom to do what we want.

Voting has been a core part of our government since the very beginning, however, many citizens chose not to take part in this essential participation. To prevent any one person from gaining too much power voting was put in place as well as checks and balances in the system by the founding fathers. While not everything is decided by voting because our government is a Constitutional Republic, voting is by far the most important way a citizen can participate in the government. Therefore, it’s baffling that people chose not to vote. As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.” While we can all agree that voting is important there is a debate on whether it should be mandatory. Voting should be an optional but important way to participate in the government.

Mandatory voting in America should be implied in the political system. Countries such as Australia and Belgium have already enforced this law on its people, and have had great results in the increasing turnout of voters going to polls. In excess of seventy years in Australia, voters have been obliged to appear to survey Election Day. Disappointment to show up causes a fine of up to fifteen dollars. Australian races since mandatory voting was implemented the turnout has reached an amount of ninety percent and above. Australian citizens have gotten use to showing up to polls and voting that it is a common obligation in their lives. (Ornstein) Based on this statistic mandatory voting has a clear effect. It raises participation rates this would also prompt more Americans to pay attention to which candidate to vote for. Mandatory voting will help change the political system of the United States, which will lead to different political culture and ultimately increase voter-turnout. As well as engage the citizens of our nation to vote who they feel is necessary. Money is also a big issue in becoming a president or even getting people to notice a candidate. Billions of dollars go into these campaigns, but if mandatory voting was enforced, this would lower the amount of money spent tremendously candidates can focus on debates and talk about a right path for our nation. Overall, mandatory voting would create a stronger, smarter, and more democratic United States of America.

To every political system there are many positives and negatives and one critique of compulsory voting systems is that informal and uninterested voting is increased. It has been advocated that compulsory voting brings a large amount of “uninterested voters” to the polls and in turn cast votes that are clearly inconsistent with their own political values compared to those who are more informed and motivated voluntary voters (Selb and Latchat, 2009). In this case the primary concern is when people are forced to vote they will either pick a candidate at random or spoil their ballot which consequently, does not make the outcome of the election representative of the people’s interests. If certain individuals are not interested in politics they should not be forced to contribute in one of the most salient political statements practiced in Canada (Selb and Latchat, 2009). They have the right to choose their level of political participation.

In recent years, due to non compulsory voting, our national affairs and international affairs have been affected. America should have compulsory voting because of increased voter turnout rates, the questionability of the legitimacy of our government and the education of politics for the people.

I believe mandatory voting would be a good move for elections. However, I do not believe mandatory voting would be good for democracy and freedom. Like

Selecting the right candidate is hard and need more people to participate and to achieve that all citizens need to voting and select the future leaders to benefit themselves and their country. By adding the voting as mandatory will ensure more responses and also keep the country on the right path. For example, In the United States, the recent studies conducted by various governments show that twenty percent only of the population gave their voting voice in the

Industrial Countries all over the world have seen a steady decline in voter participation; Great Britain is a great example of this. The country has witness turnout in elections falling slowly as time pass. However, the election of 2001 dropped the country from their average of 76% voter turnout to just a 59.4% turnout. Comparatively, Australia, a former colony of Britain, has enjoyed high and steady voter participation since 1924 because of the implementation of compulsory voting. This system has proven to be not only effective in bring voters to the polls, but also effective in improving Australia’s democracy. By evaluating these two countries with similar political structure; one can see the difference in compulsory voting turnouts

The goal of any politician is to get reelected, and in order to do so, they must follow the directives of the majority of people. This allows the people to keep the government in constant check, along with the checks and balances present in government. Thus, voting is more than merely a citizen’s responsibility; it is an obligation

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.