Should voting be mandatory?

Think about this one carefully and objectively.

(Don't forget, something as simple as jury duty is mandatory in the US. Also, voting is compulsary in Australia.)

 

Oh, just think how the elections might turn out if it WAS mandatory.... Yea, might be a blessing.

You could have folks go door to door like the census people do.

And let convicted felons vote too! Please. And allow ALL prospective candidates to be in the debates on TV so people can really make informed decisions... And let people who registered independant vote for whoever they want in the primaries. And screw the electoral college.....

 

Remember, voting in America doesn't count. Not anywhere above a local level, at least.

Your vote for Congress or President goes nowhere. Elections of that scale are decided long, long before you ever toss your vote.

So no...I don't think it should be mandatory to go do something that doesn't matter. We have the -right- to vote, but we do not have to...it's a freedom we can choose to explore or not. Once you begin forcing someone to use that freedom, they aren't free anymore.

 

I think so, yeah, but I think a lot of people would become disgruntled because they don't want to vote, so they'd just vote for whomever without actually caring about it, and that's never good.

 

hell no. Voting does nothing anyways. You don't make the laws rich people do. I'll never vote for any american in this slave-state.

 

no
people should have the right to be neutral if they r sick of all candidates

 

Definitely not. Apathetic people would throw everything off because they'd be forced to pick someone. If they know nothing about the issues and have no interest, they shouldn't have to give their 2 cents.

 

nothing should be mandatory.

 

Exactly. As to jury duty how many high profile individuals do you ever see on a jury? Think they could pay them 5.00 a day? How mandatory is it for them? Mandatory only seems to apply to the little man.

 

Actually that might be a good thing!

 

So actually everyone is voting anyway.

 

We are told by the establishment how important it is to vote, which is the same establishment who gives us the candidates to vote for. Democracy is the smoke screen designed to keep the public complacent, and they will remain complacent as long as they believe in the sham called democracy and naively think their voice counts and that they have a choice.

It's when enough people wake up and realize that their vote DOESN'T count that something can possibly be done.

 

Democracy is not a smoke screen when enforced by the population by voting. Just how can those without a voice ever have any power. That's where your arguments lose me rat.

 

You should have to pass a test to vote. That would get rid of A LOT of voters.

 

That was tried after the civil war and found to be unconstitutional.

 

no we are a free society supposedly we should'nt be forced to do anything.

 

It should be mandatory only if we get the option of None of the Above. If None of the Above wins, all candidates lose and new ones run in a new election. Continue until someone actually wins.

But seriously, how would you even go about forcing everyone to vote?

 

The best way to get a higher turnout on election day would be to put a "None of the above" spot on the ballot.

 

Ever seen Richard Pryor's movie Brewster's Millions, you should rent it.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088850/

 

This is very true. Moreover, jury duty isn't mandatory, you get signed up for jury duty by participating a combination of government processes. One of those is registering to vote. It's your trade off with society, you vote, you go to jury duty. Granted most of the processes people go through without realizing it, though personally I have never been called for jury duty since I played my cards right in what I participate in.

if voting were made mandatory, the next logical step in our current society would be madating which vote you cast.