3 ms·

Mandatory voting in the US would simply be an excuse to fine or jail the same people that are targeted for voter suppression. Also personally I'd just rather p

Mandatory voting in the US would simply be an excuse to fine or jail the same people that are targeted for voter suppression. Also personally I'd just rather people who have no interest in voting not be forced to randomly choose candidates just because they are forced to vote. Along that line, voting in person should universally become optional with mail in/drop off becoming the norm. I'd always had a valid reason for absentee voting when I had residency in my home state and it would take me atleast a day to properly research the down ballot candidates. I now live in a state with judges on the ballot and it took me an entire weekend to actually look through everyone that wasn't in the federal races. Mandatory voting, especially without universal access to absentee voting, would just exacerbate the issue of people just voting based on name or party instead of stance when there are so many people on the ballot.

cletus 6y ago
"Mandatory voting" is perhaps a misnomer because what it really means is "mandatory attendance". There's nothing stopping you from going to the polling place and putting thee piece of paper with no votes into the ballot box. In Australia some people deliberately place such "spoiled ballots" or only vote on the stuff they care about. It's completely fine. What you can get fined for in Australia is not getting your name crossed off when attend a polling place, not for failing to supply a complete and valid ballot. In Australia you can also vote "above the line" or "below the line". Voting "above the line" means you just select a party (and this includes minor parties) and use that party's preferences (which must be filed in advanced). Voting "below the line" had become sort of involved because there was ultimately dozens of Senate candidates and you once had to number them all. They reformed this so you only have to put in as many preferences as you like (so only numbering 1 to 6 out of 40). Another detail: in Australia you have two ballots. One for the House of Representatives and the other for the Senate. You can vote above/below the line separately on each.

cletus 6y ago

"Mandatory voting" is perhaps a misnomer because what it really means is "mandatory attendance". There's nothing stopping you from going to the polling place and putting thee piece of paper with no votes into the ballot box. In Australia some people deliberately place such "spoiled ballots" or only vote on the stuff they care about. It's completely fine. What you can get fined for in Australia is not getting your name crossed off when attend a polling place, not for failing to supply a complete and valid ballot. In Australia you can also vote "above the line" or "below the line". Voting "above the line" means you just select a party (and this includes minor parties) and use that party's preferences (which must be filed in advanced). Voting "below the line" had become sort of involved because there was ultimately dozens of Senate candidates and you once had to number them all. They reformed this so you only have to put in as many preferences as you like (so only numbering 1 to 6 out of 40). Another detail: in Australia you have two ballots. One for the House of Representatives and the other for the Senate. You can vote above/below the line separately on each.