Voter Registration Act Pros And Cons

Americans are fortunate enough to have the right to vote, so we should take opportunity to be heard. “...many Americans do not vote” (Doc BE). Some Americans do not take the chance to vote. For example, “Since World War II, no presidential election has ever involved 65% or more of registered voters!” (Doc BE). Voting is important because, “People express their consent or disapproval in many different ways” (Doc BE).

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.

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

Americans should not be required to vote, the amount of votes will go up. But since they are not aware of who they are voting for would cause chaos. If they have a problem and want to have their say in the elections they should be able to without be required to with an influence of something. They would still need more ways to higher the voting percentage. But they could do that with several ads convincing them so they have the mindset of voting. Now the odds of the least liked candidate to be voted in to win is fifty fifty.

What is more American than voting? This right has been fought for by many groups and people throughout the life of our country. From the people in our history books to the everyday person fighting for their rights, voting has been yearned for by many. However, even with voting being such a big deal, voter turnout is low for America and still there are some Americans who can’t vote. With so much being done throughout the years to get the vote to Americans, we’d expect high voter turnout and everyone being able to vote, but that isn’t true and it needs to change. We should make voting required as turnout will rise, more people would get involved in the government, and more people will be able to vote.

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.

Being able to cast my first vote in the 21st century is a privilege. My generation needs to accept their patriotic responsibility and vote because many reforms are needed in order to carry us into the new millennium. Voting reforms are necessary to inspire political participation for other modifications and adjustments needed in areas such as health care, education, and Social Security, all which we as young people will face in the future. Participation in elections is necessary to facilitate and enable progress, but our present day system of voting is expiring by frustrated Americans.

Voting has not always been as easy as it is today. It is interesting to examine how far America has progressed in its process of allowing different types of people to be able to vote. Voting was once aimed at a particular group of people, which were white males that owned their own property. Today, most people over the age of eighteen can vote, except for the mentally incompetent or people who have been convicted of major felonies in some states. The decline of voter participation has always been a debate in the public arena. According to McDonald and Popkin, it is “the most important, most familiar, most analyzed, and most conjectured trend in recent American political history (2001, 963)” The question is, how important is voter

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.

The second reason i feel this way is because it will save our government money. Political parties would not have the need to go out and spend money on advertisements telling us to go out and vote(“Compulsory voting”13-14). This means our nation's debt will not be raised nor

I believe that the low voter turnout in most elections is appalling. Why do people want to willingly give up their voice in our governmental system? Fewer than 37% of all eligible voters actually cast a ballot in the last presidential election. Many claim ignorance of political issues, but I believe that must stem from laziness. If people would

In “Race and Beyond: Why Young, Minority, and Low-Income Citizens Don’t Vote,” Sam Fulwood claims, “Regardless of whether a favored candidate won or popular ballot initiative passed, our nation suffered because of the number of people who didn’t vote at all” (par. 2). I agree with Sam Fulwood and I believe it is so unfortunate that Americans don’t use this right. Voting is one of the most valuable possessions that Americans are given and yet they do not use. Many of the countries around the world do not grant voting rights to their citizens. These countries either have a dictatorship or kingdom which prevents citizens from voting. People need to understand the sufferings of those people who struggled for this right. When the United States

It seems as though the younger population of voters have all grown up in a world where they have been influenced to believe that their one vote will not make a difference, and therefore they do not bother to take the time out of their busy schedules to cast their meaningless vote. In the last presidential election, only one out of four citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four casted their vote (“Is the System broken?”). The opinion that one vote will not make a difference appears to be directly respondent to the younger generation of voters. This generation needs to be educated on the difference that one vote can make.

At a City Hall meeting in Cleveland, Ohio when asked about the topic of mandatory voting laws (Jackson 2015), President Obama stated, “If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country.” (Stephanopoulos 2015 p5) (Evidence: Testimony) He is right, if everyone voted the political map in the country would be completely different---and not for the better. Compulsory voting can potentially cause the nation 's true political viewpoints to be misrepresented, thus hindering political progression, by making voters feel obligated to choose candidates that may not represent their ideas and forcing the politically disengaged to select random ballots.

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.