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Mandatory voting in america
Mandatory voting in america
Voting rights in the united states essay
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In America, political candidates go against one another in a process known as an election in which citizens vote for the next person who "best" fits the position. In addition, there are various amounts of debates on whether a citizen should be compelled to vote. Although some argue if citizens should be required by law to vote, there are exceeding an amount of disadvantages. On the contrary, citizens should be required to vote. For example, text 1 line 20 states "A democracy can't be strong, if its citizenship is weak"; therefore when being forced to vote against our own will, it is to strengthen our nation. In addition, if the turnout rates are high, then political parties reaches out to the citizens. As a result, the voices of the less educated and the poorer Americans will be heard and not ignored. Not to mention, William A. Galston states that voting evens out the inequalities stemming from income, education, and age in text 1. Most importantly, mandatory voting only benefits us a nation and individually. Clearly, compulsory voting should be enforced. …show more content…
For example, we as a nation fought for our freedoms ,specifically freedom of speech. Therefore forcing people to vote is an "infringement of the citizen's freedom" according to text 2 line 19. In addition, text 3 lines 27-28 "In fact, some people might even interpret mandatory voting as a violation of [the] First Amendment's prohibition of compelled speech". Furthermore, it should be upon us if we want to vote. Unlike Australia, citizens should not be fined when they don't vote. Most importantly, if democracy is about freedom, then we shouldn't be enforced to vote and our freedom should not be disregarded. As can be seen, the violation of our rights clearly states why we shouldn't be obliged to
In document C, John W. Dean who was legal council the the U.S. President Richard M. Nixon said, “While compulsion of any kind is a restriction, so is the compulsion to drive only on the right side of the road. Requiring citizens to vote is no more restrictive than requiring them to register for the draft. And it is far less restrictive than requiring us, for example, to attend school; to serve on juries, possibly for weeks or months at a time; to pay taxes; or to serve in the military when drafted”(Dean). That shows the multitude of laws or requirements in America that are less important than voting, but are required. Voting is for the good of the country, yet people won't vote, but won't bat an eye when they are forced into jury duty.
The most critiqued argument is that mandating voting is just un-American. The con side argues that forcing people to vote violates our freedom of speech. But they don’t feel that the requirement to pay taxes and serve as a jure are unjust. This seems contradictory. The second argument is that requiring all citizens to vote would result in many uninformed and carelessly voters. They continue this argument by stating many people would cast “donkey votes” which are votes for a random candidate because they are required to vote by law. There are many arguments for and against compulsory voting but it comes down to what makes something
Without mandatory voting, some people chose not to vote because they do not care, or are uninformed. Forcing these people to vote could lead to random choices when voters do not take responsibility to study the candidate's position on specific topics. "It may increase the number of informal votes, ballot papers which are not marked according to the rules for voting," _ Matt Rosenberg_. Compulsory voting may lead many people to not truly vote, but to put their name on a ballot and turn it in. While this is possible, a greater number of potentially interested people would also vote. If people are required to vote, the country will obtain every eligible voters’ opinions. Some of the citizens may not care who is elected, but they still can have a say if they want to. Without mandatory voting, the people who do not want to vote, do not and went about with their life. "Because a majority of the voters are turning out to cast ballots, the formation of the government can be a more accurate reflection of what the population of any nation wants," _Asia-Pacific Economics_. In a government with two different parties, the majority of the citizens decide how they want the government to be formed till the next election.
First, one reason why Americans should be required to vote is that it will educate the citizens. Evidence supporting this reason is in “Unequal Participation: Democracy’s Unresolved Dilemma, American Political Science Review” Aaron Lijphart stated that “By compelling people to vote, we are likely to arouse in them an intelligent interest and to give them a political knowledge that do not at present possess.” This evidence helps explain why Americans should be required to vote because when citizens are required to vote it gives them a political understanding that they didn't have before voting. Most citizens will research
Considering the delegates that are currently running for office, a voter should have a vast level of understanding regarding the intentions of each and every candidate. Arguing whether to raise or lower the age limit for the right to vote has raised many speculations as to how it would affect the economy. There are pros and cons within both sides of the argument, but any decisions made by the powers that be will have an adverse effect on today’s society if it is placed in the hands of the younger generation. Therefore, raising the voting age to twenty-one is a better way of making sure that voters are more aware and would be more equipped to making a more sound decision rather than lowering
According to the International IDEA only 40 out of 200 countries have some form of compulsory voting (Doc A). 40 out of 200 is only 20% so if only 20% of counties have some form of compulsory voting then what about the other 80% that doesn't. Compulsory voting can't be the only answer to our problem if only 20% of counties use it. America should not have compulsory voting because only a small amount of countries have some form of compulsory voting. In the article Is It Time To Consider mandatory Voting Laws? Worsening Voting Statistics Make A Strong Case, by John W. Dean it is stated that “Requiring citizens to vote is no more restrictive than requiring them to register for the draft…” (Doc C). It is true that requiring citizens to vote is less restrictive than other mandatory laws, Altough it's not the problem of making them vote it's the problem that doing so would result in lower satisfaction rates, uneducated citizens pretty much guessing, and citizens not liking our electoral
American should be required to vote because 40 out of 160 have these voting systems where you are required to vote. If not there would be consequences such as a fine or maybe even jail. People would also go and vote if there wasn´t a charge involved. This would make americans go and vote today.
There are a few reasons why Americans should not be required to vote: voters might not put that much thought into their votes, although voter turnout in America is very low, we have one of the highest rates of voter satisfaction, and unaware voters are threats to the country’s future. The first reason Americans should not be required to vote, is that some voters might not care about what they put onto their ballots. In “Peru Trip Report,” Jimmy Carter states that in 2001, thirteen percent of the ballots casted in the election were blank or invalid. This occurred because some of the citizens didn’t want to vote for any of the candidates, or they ruined their ballots. This evidence helps explain why Americans should not be required to
In “Must You Vote?” New York Times, Randy Cohen explains, “But it is irresponsible to encourage the unaware to put their ignorance into action so aimlessly.” When try to get people to vote when they are unfamiliar with the candidates and don’t take the time to research, it isn’t an expression of civic virtue, voting for the candidate of your choice. This evidence demonstrates why Americans should not be required to vote because people who don’t put the effort in will most likely just randomly choose or pick their favorite name. This can cause people to choose the wrong candidate and the government could collapse.
Forcing citizens to choose a candidate would cause many problems. Uninformed voters would make uneducated decisions, resulting in the worse candidate having a much higher chance of winning. Not to mention, the candidates elected would be more unfit since the voters would be making a careless decision. Thus, forcing citizens to vote would cause endless issues, including electing an unfit
In order to vote an individual must reach a certain amount of requirements. A few necessities are to be a U.S. citizen, followed by not having any traces of a felony, being completely mentally competent and being of age 18 or older. Following these circumstances it is necessary because voting is extremely critical to the U.S. and one would not want felons, the mentally ill, an illegal immigrant, or minors to be responsible for making a choice they may not be fully aware of. With this said the U.S. should not forcibly require all of the citizens to vote because it is a freedom to vote and forcing people to do so will not only anger them, but may cause careless votes toward a candidate they choose at random. If the U.S. required all of its citizens to vote by law one could say this would be good because the country would, by force, have an outstanding voter turnout.
Clearly, many citizens are choosing not to vote. Now, some may forget to vote. Others may be unable to vote due to sickness or other emergencies. But many people simply do not bother. They may feel they are too busy to participate, or, worse, that their vote "doesn't count." Some people actually believe that individual votes do ...
The United States of America was a great image of democracy and equality for the early revolutionary governments, but the massive size of the country makes it illogical to assume each person should be completely involved in the government. All citizens are encouraged to vote in local, state, and federal elections. The key to our representative democracy is voting. Albeit not directly, but when voting for a particular candidate, the citizen is voting for his or her set of beliefs. When decisions are made at a later date, they are made by the representatives chosen by the public. Therefore, if an American chooses not to vote during an election, then they are choosing not to vote for any policies involving the candidates, and in turn involving the whole community. A democracy is most notably known as freedom. Freedom to choose. Americans can choose to vote and participate in the government created to protect that very freedom or they may choose not
Throughout history many historical figures such as Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Elizabeth Cady Stanton have fought for their right to vote. Fighting for their right was not easy and took many years to accomplish. Massacres occurred such as Bloody Sunday, and wars such as the Civil War took the lives of many who were fighting for their right to vote. Voting is important to America due to democracy. The lack of people voting would cause an aristocracy.
Although many people around the world don't get to go to school but here in the United States you get to have a job go to school and get to vote and get to have rights but some countries don't get to have rights and get to vote.