Pros And Cons Of Not Voting

If people do not vote, it would lead the country to a very vulnerable and perilous position due to incompetent and irresponsible leaders. Not voting during an election is voting indirectly against democracy and making way for irresponsible leaders (Akande, 2011).

In recent years, society has noticed increasingly minute numbers of voters. Regardless of what is causing people to stay home, it is a big issue. Voting is a right, every citizen is entitled to having a voice in the government. We can choose to vote or we can choose to abstain. This is not an issue, until voting numbers are so low it is hard to even call elections. To help fix this, countries have implemented a system called "Compulsory Voting", or more blatantly put as "Mandatory Voting". This system would require all citizens (capable) to vote. On paper, this seems like a good idea. However, it is a removal of right. To have a right is to have an option. We as citizens have the right to almost anything we want. The Constitution gives us options. You wouldn't say we have the right to pay taxes. We are required to pay taxes. Obligations are not considered rights. Making the right to vote mandatory would be removing one keyword. RIGHT.

The three democratic rights I have chosen are the right to initiative, referendum, and recall of elected officials. The use of ballot initiatives, referendums, and recall elections is growing rapidly. Initiatives permit voters to bypass their state legislatures so as to govern bodies enough marks on petitions to place proposed statuses and, in some states, constitutional amendments specifically on the ballot. Referendums require that certain categories of legislation, for instance, those expected to raise cash by issuing bonds, be put on the ballot for public approval; voters can also utilize referendums to cancel laws that are already passed by the state legislature. A recall election allows citizens vote on whether to remove officeholders

Many Americans don't vote because they think their vote doesn't count. This is a common excuse that's rooted in the belief that the Electoral College chooses the President, not the voters. In reality, the popular vote in

One example of registration laws that effect voter participation includes the House Bill 1355. In 2011 Florida voted on House Bill 1355 placing new regulations on community organization that have helped eligible voters to register (Herron, Smith 2013). Seeing as Florida is a swing state and every four years during presidential elections the state and its residents can determine who will be the next president of the United States, it’s important for communities and organizations to mobilize the people to go out and vote. Although a federal judge in 2012 later blocked the legislation that was making it difficult for third party registration organizations the damage was already done. For a prominent voting organization opted out of doing registration drives when the House Bill 1355 was initially passed (Herron, Smith). The implementation of the Bill influenced the upcoming presidential election in 2012 by slowing the voter registration of thousands of Floridians. Bills like the 2011 House Bill 1355 only raises the cost in the rational choice model making it only more probable that people will just opt out of voting because they don’t want to deal with the time-consuming process. When registering to vote one must adhere to the states laws and comply with the process of registration. Because each state has their own legislation and laws that their residents must follow, it crucial for people to get some information on the state registration process in order to vote.

Lastly, another reason people do not vote is simple; they are not educated. They don’t understand how the government system works. TCHI tells that “Texans were not aware about even voting” (Texas 21). Most Texans are not informed about what the politicians are offering either. This will result in an overwhelming feeling for whom they will be voting. This is why it is essential being informed and educated about

Voting is the chance to contribute to the political process, and the framework was made to work best when everybody partakes. Along these lines, utilizing your entitlement to vote is not only an expansion to the voter turnout insights distributed by each significant media site (which reliably demonstrate seniors as having the most astounding voter turnout - time for the young to lift it up). Your vote really matters and the country needs and needs to hear your feeling. We live in a vote based system (a term utilized delicately as a part of our general public). A democracy is a system of government in which the entirety of the population participates. So, participate all the time.

When it comes to voting in Congress, there are varying opinions about the policy. In 2009, the Supreme Court ruled against the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. In the Senate, 44 of the 100 members are in favor of the bill, but unfortunately, that falls 16 short of the requirement. The same occurs in the House of Representatives, with 172 members in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, coming out approximately to only 40%. In 2011, all Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary committee voted in favor of the bill, and all Republicans voted opposed. The vote was 10-8, but despite this, it will not have any opportunity in the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives is overrun by too many conservative Republicans to hold

For the longest time jury duty and other similar institutions have been mandatory, however, voting is not required by the United States federal government. This raises another question. Is forcing people to vote constitutional at all? Could such a law exist in an individualistic and liberal country? The power to choose is what separates the United States from many other countries. The average citizen gets to decide how they live their lives. These values are found in the very principles created by the founding fathers. Voting is not something that should be forced. Also, there are times when voting isn’t as easy as one might think. There are many factors that could prevent a person from voting such as illness, their economic situation, or their level of education. All of these factors could lead to an absence of voting. What people and those who want to instate mandatory voting need to understand is that they have the power to decide who the next president will be. They shouldn't become upset when the person they favored the least becomes president. They could have done something about it but instead chose to do nothing.

Our American Government text mentions 7 different reasons for exceptionally low voter turnout in the United States. These reasons range from not having mandatory elections to when the elections are held, but there are two reasons that I find to be the most influential.

Other miscellaneous reasons why people don’t vote is because many Americans think that their vote won’t count. As a result, they think that it’s a waste of their time and they don’t even bother to vote. Additionally, some people are just fed-up with politicians and the entire political process and as a result they don’t vote. Lastly, Election Day in America is not a federal holiday and many people have to work and don’t have the chance to vote because of their work schedule. Therefore, voter turnout could be low simply because people have demanding work schedules and don’t get off in time to go to the

Not voting in presidential elections is actually pretty common. Believe it or not, "only 6 out of 10 eligible Americans vote in presidential elections" (217). That’s not a very big turn out: especially compared to the 1800’s where voter turnout stayed around 70-80%. Even other countries have a higher voter turnout than America does.

Obstacles to voting and the absent voting of pure independents are the reason of low turnout in the U.S. today, which may also have great influence both politically and legally. The voter turnout is the percentage of qualified voters who actually go to an election to cast a ballot. Overall, the voter turnout in America is low, with only between 51 and 57 percent of eligible voters going to polls in presidential elections from 2004 to 2012. The reason why America has such a low turnout is because of several obstacles in voting. The U.S. do not provide paid holiday for voters who are workers to vote or well-structured politics for different racial voters, other obstacles like advanced registration and absentee voting also make the voting more difficult for voters. The pure independents, who are unlike independent leaners or behaviour independents, are less well informed and less care about the election information and also definitely less likely to vote on the Election Day, they do not have any preference for any candidates or parties. As Hershey mentioned in his book,

Being a local Southern Marylander during our most recent primary I am a personal witness of the fact that voter turnout is horribly low. I was able to get out from voting in less than 10 minutes. That is how vacant my local voting precinct was. Heck I even tried to encourage a couple of my closest friends to go out and vote but the majority of them did not want a thing to do with it. This common trend had me asking myself a question. Just why do so many American citizens seem so indifferent towards voting? With a complicated question like that comes multiple answers obviously. A mix of personal disinterest in voting and a general distrust for the American government has plagued the minds of mostly younger voters but also older voters. Others may go so far to believe that their vote may not be worth of anything when it comes down to it. When people do not go out and vote for these reasons, they are not helping anyone. It can even be argued that non-voting actually hurts this country more than anything.

There are six types of voter participation but voting is by far the most common form of political participation. People participate in elections because of their strong sense of civil duty they have but many people tend not to because political parties aren’t as forceful in getting it’s members to vote than in other places. People that vote are usually educated, older, and have a higher income, Throughout the history of the United States o America, many of the citizens have been suppressed in regarding their right to vote. Even though most of the citizens, that are old enough, are eligible to vote there is still low voter turn out. Low voter turnout is most commonly explained by apathy among citizens and problems with registration. Campaigns become more personalistic when they are for primary elections, there is a reliance on the candidate’s image, and there is decline in party identification. There is a lot of strategy involved in political campaigns. The overall strategy should be to appeal to voters in a party for that party’s nomination even if it means becoming more radical so that way you can attract the main group of that party. Once the nomination is secured it is better to have more centrist views to convince those of the opposite party whose votes are wavering, to vote for the candidate. The main reasons that