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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.
To enforce voting to be mandatory , this will prompt more Americans to pay attention to the choices for their representatives. Mandating would stimulate the demand side, motivating voters to understand and acknowledge who they are voting for. Therefore , voting is to be a responsibility than a option.
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
In fact, according to Elections Canada, during the 2011 federal elections, only 61.1% of Canadians exerted their duty as citizen. Hence, some think compulsory voting can remediate the situation. However, mandatory voting is what really could hurt democracy. By forcing every eligible voter to go to the polls, misinformed voters will randomly cast their ballot. Sceptics may believe that by fining individuals who refuse to go to the polls, there will be less ignorant voters. For example, in Australia, where voting is compulsory, Australians who do not cast their ballots have to “pay a 20$ penalty” (Australian Electoral Commission). However, by financially penalising citizens who do not exert their duty, many will be so dissatisfied by the incumbent government that they will simply vote for a party that would not make voting an obligation. These people would ignore the party’s other policies instead of being informed on all the challenges that the country faces and how each party plans on solving them. Nonetheless, the elections are an occasion to elect a leader whose ideologies on many aspects, from immigration to the environment, matches the voter’s most. As a responsible voter, one has to know the policies of each party and has to try to obtain enough “social-scientific knowledge to [assess] these positions” (Brennan 11), which takes a lot of time. Therefore, compulsory voting would make voters more informed, but only on a narrow aspect while ignoring the other issues that should be taken into consideration when choosing the party they will vote for. All in all, mandatory voting would hurt democracy despite the higher participation
Recently, only 60% of registered voters have actually voted in presidential elections. This brings up the question: should Americans be required to vote? This question receives very mixed answers. Many Americans believe that they should have the choice and the freedom to vote or not; many Americans also believe that mandatory, or required, voting is simply a civic duty. Currently, American citizens are not required to vote. Citizens seem to like this system, but because voting is not mandatory, the amount of citizens that vote in elections is rather low. Americans should not be required to vote because it forces people to vote that are uninterested, makes citizens unhappy, and damages other people’s votes.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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 ...
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.