4 ms·
American elections are by and large won or lost based on voter turnout, not preference. That leads to politicians stirring up anger and fear and their campaigns
by titzer 6y ago
American elections are by and large won or lost based on voter turnout, not preference. That leads to politicians stirring up anger and fear and their campaigns need a ground game to get people registered and to the polls.
I believe in a constitutional amendment that guarantees all citizens the right to vote, including convicted felons. Not only that, but every citizen should be required to vote (or face a fine, like in Australia). Forget voter registration pushes and poll vans. There should be a whole department of government whose job it is to go out and collect your vote, the way they collect your taxes.
- iratewizard 6y agoThe party that captures most of the uninformed voters will push to make that happen. The party that doesn't will call it an affront to our republic.
- tortarga 6y agoMandatory voting would be the fastest way to "fix" America. Turnout based voting means you win by radicalizing your side to show up to vote. Most voters would fall into a bell curve of political preference and in the US that middle stays home. In Australia it forces both major parties back into the center so they don't scare off the majority of voters, and the extreme wings of either side typically hold little sway.
- medium_burrito 6y agoI only support mandatory voting if there is a none of the above option, and that option means the office will remain unfilled.
- istjohn 6y agoWe cannot not have a President. Ranked choice voting would be a more practical reform.
- medium_burrito 6y agoI'd prefer another round of elections, with all of the candidates on the previous ballot disallowed.
- georgesC 6y agoIf you force to vote the many people that wouldn't vote otherwise, you will likely have results that are not representative of what the citizens want, due to skewed data. Don't expect forced voters to represent a normal vote.
- pindab0ter 6y agoIs a blank vote not an option in the US? It is here in the Netherlands.
- georgesC 6y agoWe have no idea if the forced voters will vote blank or not.
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoDo you really want voters who don't know anything about a race, and don't care, casting votes? Why do you think that would be an improvement?