Should Americans Be Required to Vote? Did you know that only approximately 40 countries out of 160 countries do compulsory voting?
Compulsory voting is a system where voters are obliged to vote in elections or at polling places on voting day. If only 40 countries did it, we can assume that it didn’t work out for the other countries. Should the citizens of the United States not have the freedom to vote? The three reasons why Americans should not be required to vote is because it is not fair to have a penalty if you don’t vote, people who don’t care affects the votes of the people who do, and people don’t put quality opinions on their ballot. The first reason why we should not have compulsory voting is because it is not fair to have a penalty if you don’t vote. In “Peru Trip Report”, Jimmy Carter states that Peru has mandatory voting with a $35 enforced penalty for not voting. This was the result of 13% of the ballots being bland or null, casted by people who refused to vote for the candidates or spoiled their ballots. This evidence supports why Americans should not be required to vote because there is no point of having the citizens’ vote when they don’t care and could end up choosing the wrong candidate.
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In “Must You Vote?” New York Times, Randy Cohen explains, “But it is irresponsible to encourage the unaware to put their ignorance into action so aimlessly.” When try to get people to vote when they are unfamiliar with the candidates and don’t take the time to research, it isn’t an expression of civic virtue, voting for the candidate of your choice. This evidence demonstrates why Americans should not be required to vote because people who don’t put the effort in will most likely just randomly choose or pick their favorite name. This can cause people to choose the wrong candidate and the government could collapse. This will affect the world
Should America have compulsory voting? In my opinion, compulsory voting is a good way to increase the voting turnout. People currently don't like to vote because they don't have the time, or are just too lazy. If the government gives them an incentive then they will be happy to take time off to vote. Also, a reason to fear not to vote should be installed, like an annoying fine. When only a few people vote, the voter satisfaction is low. But when everyone puts their idea in, the satisfaction rises because the actual majority will win.
Should Canadians turn to compulsory voting for answers? Many democracies throughout the globe, including Australia, Belgium, Greece, and Luxembourg, employ mandatory voting and report an average turnout rate of 90 percent ("Canadian Parliamentary Review - Article"). In light of this, establishing electoral participation as a civic duty seems pretty reasonable. Particularly considering the guaranteed increase in voter participation, it seems like the perfect solution. When examined father in-depth, however, one will discover the issue poses some
To enforce voting to be mandatory , this will prompt more Americans to pay attention to the choices for their representatives. Mandating would stimulate the demand side, motivating voters to understand and acknowledge who they are voting for. Therefore , voting is to be a responsibility than a option.
Recently, only 60% of registered voters have actually voted in presidential elections. This brings up the question: should Americans be required to vote? This question receives very mixed answers. Many Americans believe that they should have the choice and the freedom to vote or not; many Americans also believe that mandatory, or required, voting is simply a civic duty. Currently, American citizens are not required to vote. Citizens seem to like this system, but because voting is not mandatory, the amount of citizens that vote in elections is rather low. Americans should not be required to vote because it forces people to vote that are uninterested, makes citizens unhappy, and damages other people’s votes.
On the contrary, citizens should be required to vote. For example, text 1 line 20 states "A democracy can't be strong, if its citizenship is weak"; therefore when being forced to vote against our own will, it is to strengthen our nation. In addition, if the turnout rates are high, then political parties reaches out to the citizens. As a result, the voices of the less educated and the poorer Americans will be heard and not ignored. Not to mention, William A. Galston states that voting evens out the inequalities stemming from income, education, and age in text 1. Most importantly, mandatory voting only benefits us a nation and individually. Clearly, compulsory voting should be enforced.
There is a way that is already put in use to increase voter turnout in Australia is to make voting mandatory. People in Australia are forced to vote or they will be fined, or even jailed if they do not vote repeatedly. It is very effective in term of improving voter turnout; however, there is still some argument against it. One of them being people would only vote because they have to, so they are ignorantly voting for the candidates just to be done with it. I completely agree with this idea. The voter turnout can be really high, but it would be meaningless if the people just vote to escape from the punishments. Yale Law School Professor Stephen Carter also suggested that, instead of punishing people do not vote, we should reward people who vote. It is the same with the mandatory voting. I think it will only be effective in increasing the voter turnout, but the results will not. People should vote voluntarily for the best and fair outcome. To have more people voting, I believe we should take a look at why people do not vote. We must assure people that if everybody thinks their vote does not count, then no one would vote. We should be able to change their attitude about their own votes. If people cannot vote because they are busy with work or schools, we should have a national day off on the election day. By doing so, much more people will be able to participate in voting. There should also be
The United States of America was founded on freedom. Freedom from the British, freedom of speech and many more. Today, one of America’s many freedoms is the right to or not to vote, and enforcing mandatory voting would infringe on this very freedom. Compulsory voting requires money, encourages politicians to be vague and is unethical. It should not be considered for the United States.
Some do not care about their obligation to vote. Some intend to vote, but forget to go to the polls. Some initially do not vote out of protest. Whatever their reason the result is the same: Their voice is not heard by the government, and their opinion is not accounted for. When a person does not vote, what the government hears is not,”I disagree with both parties therefore I will not side with one,” or “The Electoral College is corrupt and prevents the citizenry from actually participating.”
28 other countries have mandatory voting in their government. For example, Australia is one country that adopted mandatory voting and the turnout raised to 91 percent, (Galston 2011). Indicating that mandatory voting in the United States would be the best option. Other democracies have seen low voter turnout before they took the switch to mandatory voting. Clearly, the American voting system is not working in the United
Voting Should Not Be Mandatory by Law In an effort to increase voter’s turnout, some countries have laws requiring citizens to vote or face a penalty. In fact, there are at least 26 countries that currently employ some form of compulsory voting, but many people see voting as an optional. There are many reasons that lead to not vote, including that some citizens may not like the candidates, democratic citizens, and some citizens have no interest or knowledge about the political process, and other reason that the government should choose a good person for people to help them even though there was no vote.
Compulsory voting could go against the people’s rights. Although Americans have the right to vote does not mean they have to exercise those rights. For example in “Critics Warn of the Violation of Civil Liberties” it says forcing people to participate in democracy can put democracy itself at risk. Not only does it go against their rights, but they would get a fine if they did not vote. Also, forcing citizens to vote takes a lot of time and money.
Voting is all around the world, and many times it involves the common person. The common people are the ones who usually vote in elections and other political practices in a democracy. The ones who choose not to vote, however, have no right to complain once a decision is finalized. A vote is a contribution, so those who complain about the results and didn’t vote, shouldn’t be allowed to complain because they didn’t add to their side, and it is their civic duty to vote in the first place.
Around 40 percent (almost 93 million) of American eligible voters didn’t vote in 2016. Imagine how everyone who has ever fought for the right to vote would react upon witnessing those numbers. Although it is a right, doesn’t mean that it is mandatory. Voting has always been something that people have held to be of importance. I believe that voting can only solve so many problems that we face.
As a result, about 94 percent of eligible voters turn out.” (Junior Scholastic, December 2017) Citizenship I think that voting should be mandatory because people who vote are citizens of the United States. You are a part of your country. “Voting is more than a right—it’s a responsibility.”
Voting, while it is considered a right in The United States, it is also considered a duty that we the people have. The whole purpose of voting is to elect someone into office who will promote our individual’s values and beliefs. One would like to believe that the state representatives and officials we elect into office are the ones our opinions align with the most. If one does not take advantage of this right, then one could not be considered to care how American politics unfold. Now, the actual process of registering to vote is not one in which is actively advertised to the public, as most people just assume that all you have to do to register to vote is just fill out a form, which while not entirely false is not the complete process either.