A USA National Bill Proposition--Should We Be Forced To Vote?

I found out at school today that there is a bill being proposed in Congress that would force eighteen-year-olds to vote or they would be forced to be an $100 fine, wear a neon green vest that says, "My Bad--I didn't vote!" for a week, and do a hundred hours of community service.

My friends and I think that if we are forced to vote, it ceases to be democracy and becomes forced democracy. Also, if someone who doesn't want to vote is forced to, they will go in and pick the name that looks the best. They won't study the candidates or their platforms. They will participate only to escape a punishment for not voting. People picking names just for sake of not getting in trouble increases the likelihood of people not good for the job being elected.

So, should we be forced to vote?

 

I think that's a bit stupid.

Somehow I get the feeling this would be shot down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

 

Could you post some proof of this? Well at least some references of the bill.



And besides, we're not a democracy anyway.

 

I'd take that with a grain of salt.

 

Makes sense. I'm trying to find the website someone told me about, but I can't remember it and I didn't write it down.

 

Voting is a right and a privilege, not something that can be forced.

What a stupid idea. It reminds me of freedom fries.

If you want to get 18-year olds to vote, you have to offer them an incentive, not a threat.

Peace,

V-03

 

Uhhh...this is a joke, right? I mean, wearing a green vest that says, "My bad-I didn't vote," should already tell you that it's BS.

 

Uh, it defeats the purpose of voting if people are forced to vote.

 

Not really, don't they have compulsory voting in Australia?

 

Well, I got it secondhand from firsthand. The history teacher told the seniors in class and a senior told me. And I know that the history teacher wouldn't be lying because he will be running for office in the spring if he gets the nomination for his party. I've been searching for it. Maybe he heard a rumor. If so, I'll post it when I find out.

 

And I know that the history teacher wouldn't be lying because he will be running for office in the spring if he gets the nomination for his party.

Oh, no, politicians never lie!

 

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030228.html

It might not be the exact thing that I was talking about--I'm still looking for that--but it does show the thought's out there that we should make people vote.

 

Yeah, voting is compulsory here in Australia.

If you don't vote you can be fined.

There are arguments for and against the concept of compulsory voting - on the plus side you obviously get a good turn out at elections and generally people tend to pay attention to the campaigns in the knowledge that they must tick a ballot slip.

On the negative side, every year there are countless votes that are invalid or just plain stoopid because people can't be bothered going through all the angst.

In terms of political ideology, I don't know where the concept of compulsory voting sits.

Apparently, only a fraction of the population actually vote in presidential campaigns in the US, meaning that your President is elected by a majority of an extreme minority of the population...how that is democratic is beyond me.

 

That website only talks about "what if's."

It doesn't mention any current bills in the house or senate.

 

No one should be forced to vote.

That would be an infringement upon one's liberty.

One should be able to choose whether or not to vote - even abstaining can be a form of protest.

 

In terms of political ideology, I don't know where the concept of compulsory voting sits.

Does it matter where it sits? Should we decide where we stand on the issue based on where parties that label themselves conservative or liberal stand?

 

It might have been a rumor, I said that. I mean, what do you think? Should Americans be forced to vote or what? There are two groups of seniors at school, one for and one against. And no, it's not for a project. The teacher heard it from someone who is already in politics. And yes, I understand that statement about politicians, and that is true, in most cases. I don't think the guy would be allowed to teach here if he was dishonest.

 

Compulsory voting seems to me to defeat the point. The right to vote includes the right not to vote.

I too have a feeling that this Bill, if passed, would be struck down. I suspect it would be deemed to violate free speech and/or due process.

 

Laine, I think it is important to realize that you yourself, did not hear this directly from the teacher, right?

Have you ever heard of the "telephone demonstration?"

Where you say a phrase and then repeat it on down a line of people.. The end phrase will be different than the beginning phrase..

No one is suggesting that this teacher lied, but maybe he originally said something like "He thought that there should be compulsory voting.."

Then your senior friend misinterpreted it as "Mr ____said that there is going to be a voter bill.."

It's the danger of second hand information..

If you know this teacher, why don't you just ask him the specifics?

Overall, I would say that such a program would be hard to properly impliment here..

It would make the "hanging chad" voter count issue look like a walk in the park..

 

Logisitcally,

If something like australia's system was adopted it would almost certainly cost more money. Certainly the first few times there might be significant portions that refused to vote, however it is extremely unlikely that they would pay for the increased costs.

As far as I am aware, the costs incurred by all elections are paid by the state and local, not the national government.

I do not think the Federal government would be allowed to fine people for not voting, even in a federal election.

Someone more knowledgeable please correct me if I'm wrong.

It might be able to do so specifically in Washington DC....

Hmmm What it could do I suppose is make things like the election reform funding to help states upgrade their systems hinged upon adopting mandatory voting.

 

That is true, Mr44. I just have not gotten around to it because the teacher is usually in class. I was planning to ask him today, but I had a test I forgot about. Sorry if this sounds like I'm trying to excuse it, I'm not.

 

I'd vote against this. And make everyone else vote against it too.

 

I don't know. I think a mandatory appearance at the polls might be okay. If the voters want, they can just check off their name and turn in their ballot blank to show they appeared if they don't think any of the candidates are good.

 

But what about issues of identity fraud, or setting new standards of election validity tied to turn-out?

Does anyone know how these are handled in Australia?

If we had a mandatory voting requirement, would this be tied to the voting system?

Such as, if X wealthy neighborhood had 5 voting outlets per 100,000 people, but Y poorer neighborhood only 3 voting outlets, could it be argued that the system was preventing the fulfillment of the requirement?

I could also see such a system becoming much more personality dependent that it already is....

If people have to vote, would they be compensated for taking time off to do so? Would we have a "voting hoilday?"

I don't know, too many what ifs..

 

At first I thought requiring people to vote would be an infringement upon our personal liberties. But if you think about it, our citizenship in the United States requires us to do other things. For example, if you are a male, you are required to sign up for the draft on your 18th birthday. We are also required to show up for jury duty. If you don't you can face jail time. (My county wa starting to threaten people with this because we had so many people dodging jury juty). Both of these examples could be defined as "civic duties." I believe voting could also be lumped into this category. That being said, I don't think we should be required to vote. There are a lot of people I don't want voting. I'd rather have people who don't take enough time to learn the issues and candidates stay home.