Compulsory Voting
By laylomo
@laylomo (165)
United States
November 11, 2007 10:37pm CST
Compulsory voting is a practice requiring all citizens to vote or at least attend a polling place to get their name scratched off. Those who do not comply are often denied many state services, fined, imprisoned, and punished in different ways.
What are your thoughts on compulsory voting? Is it legitimate?
2 people like this
2 responses
@zenmachado (1617)
• United States
12 Nov 07
It is not wise to force people to vote. What if because they are uninformed and without interest.. that they vote for something wrong.. just merely because they are forced to vote?
Just like they say that your vote counts.. it also counts for the wrong things..
I would prefer for those who know, to make informed desisions...
Plus, many for religious or belief reasons, do not want to involved themselves in the decisions of these political institutions.
1 person likes this
@laylomo (165)
• United States
12 Nov 07
To add to your post...in the countries with compulsory voting, most have secret ballots. They could not write anything - hell, they could doodle on it, and nothing would happen. So it's not a matter of compulsory voting, it's compulsory attendance. All that's required is that the show up, cross off the names, and it doesn't matter what they put on the ballets.
I agree with your points about uninformed voters, as well as those who are against it religiously or theoretically.
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
12 Nov 07
I agree that compulsory voting would not work. I would propose that the people who pay the taxes be the ones that vote. The reason being once you have close to half the people either employed by the government or receiving government aid then they can vote to give themselves a raise and force the minority to pay for it. Why do politicans make the promises they do is to get people dependent upon the government and keep them in power. I say let the people who have to pay make the decisions.
