Today, with the advent of the modern media, political interests, and politics are a non-stop entity that will never go away. Ironically, voter turnout is at its lowest since the turn of the Twentieth Century. Two reasons for the low turnout can be found in inadequacies which occur in the United States and are unheard of in many member states of the European Union, and other Industrialized democracies. The first problem is that there is no consequence for not voting, the other being the difficulty of voter registration. These problems have both great affects on the government’s legitimacy, and might as well cause mis-representation of the United States abroad by electing a reprentative (the President) which could possibly represent the “American-Ideal” incorrectly causing problems with potential allies.…
Voting and Turnout. The U.S. has one of the lowest voter turnout rates among modern democratic political systems. One study ranks the U.S. 120th on a list of 169 nations compared on voter turnout (Pintor, Gratschew, & Sullivan, 2002). While during the last decade many initiatives have been undertaken to increase voter participation, concerns about the possibility of election fraud have also increased. Additionally, some political interests feel threatened by the increase in turnout among some traditionally low-turnout ethnic minorities.…
Mandatory voting has a possibility of leading to random votes. Mandatory voting has a possibility of leading to random votes because many citizens are either uneducated about politics or they are apolitical, meaning that they don’t care about politics. If there was mandatory voting then people would have to vote even though they don’t want to. In fact, this is because people who are apolitical just don’t care about voting and many other people don’t usually know about any other candidates, so they don’t vote. Stated in document 2, lines 24 and 25, Maria Gretschew wrote, “It has been proved that forcing the population to vote results in an increased number of invalid and blank votes”. This means that if citizens were forced to vote there would…
Do you agree with the concept that every American should be required to cast a ballot? Why or why not? I both agree and disagree. I agree because I am sick of hearing the complaints of how this President or that representative has ruined the country. If everyone were required to vote then they would be responsible for the person they elected into office and for the outcome of that person’s time spent in office. I disagree because this country was founded on the basis of a free society. Moreover, to require people to vote takes away a freedom, however small it may be.…
Non-voters are often generalized as lazy or selfish, but it viable that it is in their own self-interest not to vote. Forcing someone to betray their own self-interest it strictly undemocratic. A non-vote can mean apathy, but it can also mean disagreement or contentment with all candidates. Even if a compulsory system could be considered constitutional, how would the finer point be determined? To what extend will the United States go to enforce it? Furthermore, to what degree of punishment does the citizen have to pay if they neglect the “democratic duty” to cast a vote? Even further, how many strikes does that citizen get? Will the punishments continue to get worse as they continue to abstain from placing their vote? These are all crucial questions that would take…
As the nation stands, only about 30-50 percent of the United States has voted for a presidential candidate since 2000. A disappointment it is to only have at most about half of the US vote being that it has the third largest population in the world. However, to resolve this dilemma, the idea of mandatory voting could be used to help get the voice of the whole nation out. The need of mandatory is immense for it will better represent the population of America, level the playing field of candidate parties, and it will give the incentive for more informed voting causing the better quality of voters.…
Compulsory voting would help citizens to become further educated about voting. In accordance to the George Mason University citizens with a lower education or are of a younger age, have a lower percentage of voter turnout(Doc. B). This would be caused by the fact that these citizens don’t have much knowledge of how to vote. Having compulsory voting would eliminate this due to the fact that…
On average, 65% of Americans vote yearly. Voting is so important that most people equate it with democracy. Three different ways that the voter turnout can increase include making the voting process more convenient by permitting mail-in ballots, same-day voter registration, and early voting. Should the citizens be the one to decide whom their their leader? There are three reasons why americans should be required to vote. Firstly, voting should already be compulsory, or required, because the people have to decide whom their leader is going to be. Secondly, this system can change the nation greatly in either a good or a bad way. Lastly, there can be a great outcome out of compulsory voting, like a win-win.…
We are a democratic country, with this comes a responsibility which involves voting. In Canada every citizen, over the age of eighteen, has the right to vote, but so many chose not to. With voters turn out toward outstanding lows, wouldn't mandatory voting make the best law based solution? Britannica.com describes compulsory voting as a, “system in some countries, notably Australia and Belgium, electoral participation is legally required, and nonvoters can face fines. The concept of compulsory voting reflects a strain in democratic theory in which voting is considered not merely a right but a duty. Its purpose is to ensure the electoral equality of all social groups.” There are a number of reasons why individuals might not vote, for instance,…
These types of citizens that do not take voting as serious as others are the main reason all Americans should be required to vote. Some reasons are understandable of why citizens sometimes do not vote. If they just do not take the initiative to vote because they do not feel like it, in today’s society, it should be frowned upon if not already, considering they have the freedom to vote. Yet, some complain about what is happening in America and talk about politics and they do not vote and are eligible of age requirement. This shows why some citizens detest their government. They might be one of the citizens that do not go vote on Election Day and there might be less complaining if voting was a…
The idea of mandatory voting during U.S. elections is a much-debated topic in the United States. Making voting mandatory for all citizens, is debated to be something that could be either positive or negative. Both sides of the issue have their reasons why mandatory-voting laws should or should not be passed.…
Voter turnout can increase if the United States makes it compulsory like the other democratic nations who turnout is 90% and up. The US is one of the few democracies that require its citizens to register to vote. In most other democratic nations this is not a separate step. The government provides the polling location to each citizen as they comprised a listing of each citizen with the person’s name, age and address. The person just has to show up to the poll to vote, show identification and then are checked against that location’s list. The US leaves the registration to each citizen. A significant number of voters never take the initial step of bothering to register. And then those that take this step may show up to vote to find out there…
Young people don’t vote for numerous reasons that should be addressed in order to get them involved especially for the sake of the future. The problems must be identified, than different tactics must be studied and in the end solutions must be applied.…
If the United States has compulsory voting, the people would try to understand the issues they are voting for/against. Joe Heller sites that, “By compelling people to vote, we are likely to arouse them in an intelligent interest and give them a political knowledge that they do not at present possess.”…
In a democracy, voting is important. Not every eligible voter does vote. Voting is often taken for granted, many Americans do not realise just how important their vote is. Voter turnout is at an alltime low for recent elections; the more votes there are means more of a fair and legitimate election. Americans should be required to vote because it informs people of what people are voting on and it improves government legitimacy.…