What do you think of mandatory voting?

Mandatory voting is just like requiring people to be participatory… it just doesn’t work!

Anything that the government calls mandatory is actually a form of slavery. If the proposition comes to a vote, I suggest that you go vote just this once, and vote no.

I’d like to hear how they’re planning on how to inforce that.

Fine if you get the option to say “none of the above”. Otherwise it’s just a form of dictatorship, giving whatever trash party you vote for some form of mandatory agreement.

Completely against mandatory voting. If they did this, people would vote randomly, not even glancing at what they’re voting for. And as @poisonedantidote says, if they don’t have an option that says “none of the above” (or something), it’s forcing people to choose a side, even if they don’t like either side. Which is, obviously, completely fucked up.

It would be interesting if any Aussies on this list could let us know how mandatory voting has effected them.

I’m against it for all the reason’s @DrasticDreamer is. I wouldn’t want my politician’s being voted in by the “pick a random person” crowd.

A wrong idea.

I mostly disagree, I think stupid people shouldn’t vote, and ignorants should have the right to not take part.

If it were to happen, to bypass your corruption charges:
why don’t you just write in yourself since you think they’re all corrupt?

And I’m serious. Neither copulating nor kidding (inside joke for @coffeenut)

Bad idea, in my opinion. There’s the ostensible reason of uninformed voters picking whoever has the coolest haircut or the funniest name lol.

I’m much more curious about limiting the vote to those not accepting government assistance – as it smacks of a conflict of interest. Maybe this principle would also lock out state employees? That might be a problem.

Mandatory voting is, I think, too much compulsion.

I coached a college rowing team in Upstate NY. One of the students was from Brazil, studying abroad here in the states. It is illegal not to vote there. Every once in a while he would have to go 3 hours to NYC to the embassy to cast his vote. Sometimes it seemed sudden and random (I’m not sure if that was poor planning on his part, or his country held midterm voting whenever they needed). Often it would fall on a weekend when we were racing and I’d have to scramble to find a replacement for him. There didn’t seem to be such a thing as an ‘absentee ballot’ that he could have filled out. I can guarantee that it cost him valuable time and money that he could have been spending on his studies.

Countries that have compulsory voting enforce it by refusing government services to those who do not vote. So if the government provides your health care, you don’t get health care if you didn’t vote (or you have to pay for it yourself). In order to support compulsory voting, I’d first have to see several other changes.

(1) All ballots would have to have both a write-in and a “none of the above” option so that no one was ever forced to support someone he opposed.

(2) Civics classes would have to be reinstated so that no one could get a high school degree without having an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

(3) Whether it be through the aforementioned civics classes or some alternative, all students would have to learn the basics of rhetoric and logic so as to be in a position where they can understand to which part of their brains a politician is appealing at any given time and if he’s doing a decent job of it or not.

In short, if everyone had the basic skills to be responsible voters and the ability to vote his conscience, then I could support compulsory voting. Because while I think the idea has some merit, there is too much potential for problems and abuse without first making some fundamental changes.

We have compulsory voting in Australia, and I dislike it. We get people with zero understanding and interest in politics voting, and so we get the type of government we have at the moment.

Those who don’t vote are not denied services, they are just fined. Many people vote informal as a protest- my mother used to cover her ballot paper in stick figures!!

We should rather try to increase voluntary voter turnout.

@mattbrowne I agree that increasing voluntary would be ideal. Still, I can see why people might ask “if you’re not going to perform you most basic civil duty, why should civil society support you?” That, I think, is the reasoning behind refusing government services to those not participating in places where voting is compulsory. And in such a state it could be argued that voting is not actually compulsory—it’s just the requisite act for collecting the benefits of citizenship.

maybe there could be a system like we have here in the states when we get called in for jury duty. There is an out but you need to admit you are of bad moral character and you won’t be invited (so they claim). Downside is that might come back to bite you later on I suppose. It’s a thought. Having shitheads in the jury box is as bad as giving them a vote.

@woodcutter….um… this question isn’t about Jury duty…

@coffeenut I know that. It was an attempt at an analogy. This may help~ when you fill out voter registration you indicate you are of bad moral character, thus making it unlikely you will have to vote as is the case with the jury duty notification. Like I indicated it was just a thought in light of mandatory voting and trying to get out of that responsibility. hth

Well I don’t vote…NOT because I’m of “bad moral character” and would never state as such… But because the political parties who want my vote ARE bad moral characters…as proven by past/current actions and don’t deserve my vote….

If/when a party comes along that that does deserves my vote (in my eyes) I will vote…

Mandatory voting is a good way of clogging up the legal system. Compulsory voting was tried in Australia but the authorities fearful of blocking up the courts with the issue of hundreds of thousands of fines and finding prison space meant that few people were actually prosecuted.

@basstrom188 – here in Australia, people are regularly prosecuted for not voting, and compulsory voting is still in force.

Compulsory voting is good. After all you can always invalidate your vote as a protest. It allows a more comprehensive view of peoples wishes.