Voting in National Elections Should be Compulsory Not Optional

The reason voting should be optional is because in democratic countries that have made voting mandatory it hasn’t worked out well. It is mandatory to vote in Austria and Belgium. In those countries it is mandatory to vote and if you don’t vote you there are consuconsis. For example in Belgium if you don’t vote in 4 years you aren’t aloud to vote four the next ten years. “A general social

In America, many citizens choose not to vote every year. Although, The United States of America is a democracy, Americans should be required to vote. Whether the voting is for local places or for the government, citizens should be required to vote. This will give everyone a chance to speak their minds and learn more about politics. Compulsory voting is important because everyone should have a chance to vote for what they believe in.

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.

Not many countries have compulsory voting, in fact approximately only 40 countries do, and around 160 do not. As said in Document D, “Italy has mandatory voting and punishes non-voters. Italy ranks low among western countries on political satisfaction”. The document then goes on to say that “Switzerland and the U.S have the lowest voter turnout for western democracies, but among the highest satisfaction rates with their political institutions”. It is proven that countries with required voting get low satisfaction rates from their citizens, and countries that give their citizens the choice leave their people more happy with their government. Also, according to Document E, voting is required in Peru, and a fine of 35 U.S dollars is enforced if you do not vote. For someone in Peru who probably does not make much money, it could be very tough to leave your job and miss out on pay to vote. Also a fine for someone who cannot make it to the ballot could lead to much governmental resentment. Systems like these would leave Americans very frustrated with their government, and it will be very inconvenient for a large population of the working

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.

Several countries have mandatory voting for its citizens. Is it something the United States should pursue? Mandatory voting would definitely increase the percentage of votes cast. It would make voting a duty and no longer a right. With most people who vote straight party this would be an advantage to the party who has appeased the most voters as they would come in and cast the quickest vote by straight line voting. It could be possible that knowing you had to vote, one may take more interest in learning more about candidates or constitutional amendments that are on the ballots. However, I am in favor of the opposing view. I think it is a right and privilege and should not be forced upon a person. If you force people to do something they don’t want to do then the you will reap the results. You will have uniformed voters become the majority and making decisions for the country. The politicians base will no longer be the main concern as they now will have to make a push for the politically uneducated voter which will be more about what they can give them than policy issues. This also makes what the

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,

These include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Greece and Singapore, to name a few. Twelve of these nations aggressively enforce the compulsion of voting, giving penalties and charging fees who violate such law. One of these is Australia. It has been requiring its citizens to participate in federal elections since 1924. The country’s argument to this strict mandate is that it needs to address low voter turnout, which is currently below 60 percent.

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

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.

Is there any way to increase voter turnout? Compulsory is a way to increase voter turnout. In 2016, only 57.9% of eligible voters voted. Should Americans be required to vote? In my opinion, Americans should not be required to vote. There are three reasons why Americans should not be required to vote: many young people don’t have time to vote, citizens have the liberty to choose vote or not, and people that’s inexperience have to vote will be dangerous.

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.