Photo-fish wrote: Doesn't suggest that you would have to pick any candidate or check any box. You just need to sign up and submit a blank ballot or check none of the above. Australia has a 92% turnout.
Might lessen the influence of special interest groups too.
Under a non-compulsory voting system, if fewer people vote then it is easier for lobby groups to motivate a small section of the people to the polls and influence the outcome of the political process. The outcome of an election where voting is compulsory reflects more of the will of the people (Who do I want to lead the country?) rather than reflecting who was more able to convince people to take time out of their day to cast a vote (Do I even want to vote today?).
And if everybody must vote, restrictions on voting could be easily identified and steps are taken to remove them.
Every voter in Colorado received a ballot in the mail for the 2014 elections. Care to guess what the participation rate was? Now, I don't know how much easier voting can be made to be than to have a ballot delivered to your door and picked up after you've filled it out, but absent being able to phone it in I can't think of a single method, and yet there were still roughly 30% who chose not to vote.
It really is a simple concept. Those who chose not to cast their own ballot have chosen to allow themselves to be governed by those selected by the ones who chose to cast a ballot. If you want to be one of the choosers, then you make it a point to cast your ballot.
But it isn't really about "increasing the franchise", it's about controlling the franchise. It will cost more money to reach more voters, not less. It will cost more money to process more ballots, not less. What this seemingly benign thought exercise is really about is taking that first small step in the "progress" towards publicly financed elections where the central government gets to levy a tax on everyone to finance the campaigns of everyone running for office and in so doing remove the ability of the individual to donate only to the political message that they wish spoken. Much better to compel everyone to finance the distribution of every political message whether they agree with it or not.
Eleven countries — including Australia, Singapore, and Brazil — enforce compulsory voting laws, and another 11 have them on the books but don't enforce them. But politicians and commentators in the US rarely mention the idea. But it's worth taking the proposal seriously. Other plans to increase turnout — like holding elections on weekends, making Election Day a national holiday, or having everyone vote by mail — have had mixed results; some studies say they work, others find no or even negative effect.
Compulsory voting, on the other hand, definitely works.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
