Obama: Mandatory voting to counteract BIG money

[JEDI]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/politics/obama-mandatory-voting/index.html

the United States also grapples with one of the lowest voter turnout rates among developed countries.
26 countries have compulsory voting; some countries can enact a fine.

But mandatory voting could bring its own set of problems. Haydon Manning, associate professor at Flinders University in Australia, said that country's rules can backfire.

"Turning the vote out might not be a problem, but wooing disengaged citizens now requires banal sloganeering and crass misleading negative advertising," Manning wrote. "To me, this can diminish the democratic experience for those who take the time to think through the issues."


I like the idea of mandatory voting.
ObamaVote!

 

[dank69]

Oh fuck GOP is going to explode over this issue. Obamma gon' take my freedom!

 

[Mushkins]

Mandatory voting would make elections a contest of who has the coolest name, especially in local elections. Honestly, I'd rather have the 28% or whatever of the population who is politically aware and engaged in the topics at hand make an educated decision than the other 75% pushing random buttons to choose who's going to run the country.

Making it illegal not to vote isn't going to magically stir over half the population of the US into educating themselves and weighing candidates against their personal views, it's just going to be one more government hassle to them.

 

[dank69]

Mandatory voting would make elections a contest of who has the coolest name, especially in local elections. Honestly, I'd rather have the 28% or whatever of the population who is politically aware and engaged in the topics at hand make an educated decision than the other 75% pushing random buttons to choose who's going to run the country.

Making it illegal not to vote isn't going to magically stir over half the population of the US into educating themselves and weighing candidates against their personal views, it's just going to be one more government hassle to them.

Every person has the right to fill in random bubbles at the voting booth. EVERY person.

 

[Newell Steamer]

308 million Americans - what do you fine them for not voting? $100? $1000?

Part of me would prefer a tax credit of sorts for when you do vote. Not per vote, but if you vote, you get some sort of W-2V were you can get a slightly higher tax return.

 

[dank69]

308 million Americans - what do you fine them for not voting? $100? $1000?

Part of me would prefer a tax credit of sorts for when you do vote. Not per vote, but if you vote, you get some sort of W-2V were you can get a slightly higher tax return.

How do the other countries do it?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

How do the other countries do it?

http://www.aec.gov.au/faqs/voting_australia.htm

What happens if I do not vote?

After each election, the AEC will send a letter to all apparent non-voters requesting that they either provide a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote or pay a $20 penalty.
If, within the time period specified on the notice, you fail to reply, cannot provide a valid and sufficient reason or decline to pay the $20 penalty, then the matter may be referred to a court. If the matter is dealt with in court and you are found guilty, you may be fined up to $170 plus court costs and a criminal conviction may be recorded against you.

 

[Attic]

Obama is correct of course that this would possibly be a great way to counteract big money. Can't make it mandatory won't happen, but you can make it more worthwhile. Other issue is big money getting behind a great lying candiate, a candidate allowed to lie effectively due to lack of transparency in our government.

I like the tax credit idea.

Make it $250 max per year, or whatever, tie it to a tax credit. Available for earners below a certain threshold.

Then when the real majority votes to redistribute wealth, which they will, see how that goes. It's a transformative idea Obama has here, and generally I favor that cautiously.

The other large problem that voting, mandatory or otherwise, does not address is lack of transparency in government. Obama is a real deceiving asshat on this topic. We can't trust a government, not effectively vote for politicians who are not transparent, we are forced to believe their lies. Get transparency back into government and combine that with voting, and you'll get votes for the right people and right ideas, not votes for the best lies and liars.

Poeple vote for what they want, not the truth, this creates a very big problem for our system if it is allowed to remain non transparent.

Cliffs: Obama !=Transparent, Voting + Transparency in Government = Win for the People

 

[unokitty]

System is corrupt...

Forcing 'the little people' to participate in a corrupt system isn't a fix...

Uno

 

[Newell Steamer]

How do the other countries do it?

Let's get learned; http://www.idea.int/vt/compulsory_voting.cfm

The numbers listed in the column for Type of Sanction stands for different types of sanctions. These are as follows:

1. Explanation. The non-voter has to provide a legitimate reason for his/her abstention to avoid further sanctions, if any exist.

2. Fine. The non-voter faces a fine sanction. The amount varies between the countries, for example 3 Swiss Francs in Switzerland, between 300 and 3 000 ATS in Austria, 200 Cyprus Pounds in Cyprus, 10-20 Argentinean Pesos in Argentina, 20 Soles in Peru etc.

3. Possible imprisonment. The non-voter may face imprisonment as a sanction, however, we do not know of any documented cases. This can also happen in countries such as Australia where a fine sanction is common. In cases where the non-voter does not pay the fines after being reminded or after refusing several times, the courts may impose a prison sentence. This is usually classified as imprisonment for failure to pay the fine, not imprisonment for failure to vote.

4. Infringements of civil rights or disenfranchisement. It is for example possible that the non-voter, after not voting in at least four elections within 15 years will be disenfranchised in Belgium. In Peru the voter has to carry a stamped voting card for a number of months after the election as a proof of having voted. This stamp is required in order to obtain some services and goods from some public offices. In Singapore the voter is removed from the voter register until he/she reapplies to be included and submits a legitimate reason for not having voted. In Bolivia the voter is given a card when he/she has voted so that he/she can proof the participation. The voter would not be able to receive his/her salary from the bank if he/she can not show the proof of voting during three months after the election.

5. Other. For example in Belgium it might be difficult getting a job within the public sector if you are non-voter. There are no formal sanctions in Mexico or Italy but possible arbitrary or social sanctions. This is called the "innocuous sanction" in Italy, where it might for example be difficult to get a daycare place for your child or similar but this is not formalised in any way at all.

So, it looks like $5 to $200?

 

[Newell Steamer]

System is corrupt...

Forcing 'the little people' to participate in a corrupt system isn't a fix...

Uno

Would you be opposed to voters getting some sort of incentive for voting?

 

[touchstone]

p and n needs better stories than this. i will go in search of real news, wish me luck

 

[fskimospy]

Mandatory voting would make elections a contest of who has the coolest name, especially in local elections. Honestly, I'd rather have the 28% or whatever of the population who is politically aware and engaged in the topics at hand make an educated decision than the other 75% pushing random buttons to choose who's going to run the country.

Making it illegal not to vote isn't going to magically stir over half the population of the US into educating themselves and weighing candidates against their personal views, it's just going to be one more government hassle to them.

People who vote aren't educated anyway:

http://www.dklevine.com/archive/refs4122247000000000828.pdf

Surveys routinely find that the American electorate is poorly informed. Delli-Carpini and Keeter (1993) cite a 1990-91 National Election Study survey indicating that only 57% of voters could correctly identify relative ideological positions of the Republican and Democratic parties and only 45% of voters could correctly identify the parties’ relative position on federal spending. The same survey shows that voters are no better informed of the electorate than they are of party positions. For example, in the 1990-91 survey only 47% of voters correctly identified the party that holds the majority in the Senate.

Additionally, more informed voters (who tend to be political partisans) tend to cling to erroneous beliefs irrationally:

https://www.dartmouth.edu/~nyhan/nyhan-reifler.pdf

We find that responses to corrections in mock news articles differ significantly according to subjects’ ideological views. As a result, the corrections fail to reduce misperceptions for the most committed participants. Even worse, they actually strengthen misperceptions among ideological subgroups in several cases. Additional results suggest that these conclusions are not specific to the Iraq war; not related to the salience of death; and not a reaction to the source of the correction.

Finally, restricting voting to those deemed sufficiently knowledgeable about the US has a pretty ugly history in our country. It is best avoided.

 

[PokerGuy]

Absolutely stupid idea. First, I should be free to decide if I want to vote for some clown or not. Forcing people to vote goes against freedom. Second, why in the world would anyone think it a good idea to add millions of idiots who currently can't even be bothered to vote to the process? Idiots like obummer like the idea because they know they have an even better chance in elections with more idiots to vote for them, but overall it's a terrible idea.

 

[Jimzz]

I was thinking how it could be enforced but giving a tax credit makes good sense. Or a mix of it and punishment make it so you can't claim certain tax credits or over a certain amount.

 

[Jaepheth]

Just have the NSA and Google put together a script that takes a person's data and automatically votes for the candidate they would most likely vote for.

Anyone can sign in and manually change their calculated vote at any time.


What could go wrong?

 

[BoberFett]

Requiring voter ID is too onerous and is just Republicans trying to disenfranchise minorities, but Obama brings up andatory voting and Democrats collectively jizz themselves as they picture the landslide wins they imagine they'll get.

LOL, Democrats.

 

[boomerang]

Just have the NSA and Google put together a script that takes a person's data and automatically votes for the candidate they would most likely vote for.

Anyone can sign in and manually change their calculated vote at any time.


What could go wrong?

Two questions would do it. Do you want more free stuff? Do you want less free stuff?

 

[brandonb]

I thought a lack of a vote indicates voter apathy towards the respective candidates.

In other words, you all suck, so nobody gets my vote.

This is what I'm thinking:

Mandatory voting is just another way to get the lazy into the poll booths. Lazy usually vote for a certain party. We know which party that is. I'm guessing all the people who support this are from that party because they know exactly what's going on here.

Prizes or penalties for voting is the most crazy idea I've heard in a long time.

 

[boomerang]

Requiring voter ID is too onerous and is just Republicans trying to disenfranchise minorities, but Obama brings up andatory voting and Democrats collectively jizz themselves as they picture the landslide wins they imagine they'll get.

LOL, Democrats.

Woah there! Nobody said anything about ID's.

 

[boomerang]

 

[trenchfoot]

308 million Americans - what do you fine them for not voting? $100? $1000?

Part of me would prefer a tax credit of sorts for when you do vote. Not per vote, but if you vote, you get some sort of W-2V were you can get a slightly higher tax return.

I agree. Greed has determined the diseased identity of our body politic. Greed should also be the cure, you know, like a vaccine of sorts.

 

[fskimospy]

Requiring voter ID is too onerous and is just Republicans trying to disenfranchise minorities, but Obama brings up andatory voting and Democrats collectively jizz themselves as they picture the landslide wins they imagine they'll get.

LOL, Democrats.

You really had to tie yourself up in knots to find some equivalency between opposing irrational restrictions based on solving problems that don't exist and promoting greater electoral participation.

I think Democrats would make you less angry if you stopped and thought about what their real positions were for a minute.

 

[PokerGuy]

and promoting greater electoral participation.

What problem does that solve?

I think Democrats would make you less angry if you stopped and thought about what their real positions were for a minute.

No, once people see the real positions (instead of the ones they pretend to hold), it should make them a lot more upset, not less.

 

[highland145]

Why not just enact some campaign finance reform?