Should Someone Be Required By Law To Vote In The Presidential Election(s)?

To force an uniformed vote is to destroy the system. If you can force people to read up, maybe there's an argument to be made. Though I still believe it to be a losing argument.

I would like to see voting made simpler and more accessible, though. Why can't we vote digitally. My ID is confirmed and verified every time I make a purchase on line. Why can't these same procedures be used to verify my citizenship, district, etc.? Obviously, we would still need the booths for people that don't do digital, but that segment is quickly becoming a minority.

The point, to get back on topic, is making voting more convenient will do more for representation than we could ever hope to by forcing people to make decisions they have no business making.

I would agree with some of the others that have said a simple test should be administered before anyone's allowed to vote. If you can't name the other candidates besides your party guy, your out. If you can't name one policy platform that swayed your decision, your out. I would even like to follow with a couple of questions any voter should know, such as, which candidates are for and against obomacare (i forget the real name for it now.. srry). I could go on here, but I think I made the point.

When everyone has a voting booth in their living room and there is an established verification and knowledge testing procedure, can we fire congress? Can we get rid of the electorate? Can popular vote really make good decisions for the best interest of the population as a whole? Does the president then regularly interact with voters rather than congress members and business leaders? I believe this to be an experiment worth trying.

Joe51 said:

When everyone has a voting booth in their living room and there is an established verification and knowledge testing procedure, can we fire congress? Can we get rid of the electorate? Can popular vote really make good decisions for the best interest of the population as a whole? Does the president then regularly interact with voters rather than congress members and business leaders? I believe this to be an experiment worth trying.

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Switzerland is the best example of a direct democracy in the world. They seem to be doing fantastic, and their government is a very accurate representation of themselves.

RabidAlpaca said:

Switzerland is the best example of a direct democracy in the world. They seem to be doing fantastic, and their government is a very accurate representation of themselves.

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They're also a lot smaller, more localized in their form of governance, and have a whole different perspective on government -- and life in general, for that matter.

TacticalEvilDan said:

They're also a lot smaller, more localized in their form of governance, and have a whole different perspective on government -- and life in general, for that matter.

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Of course, I was just suggesting a very successful case study for your question.

RabidAlpaca said:

Of course, I was just suggesting a very successful case study for your question.

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It was Joe's question, but fair enough.

Also worth noting is that the Swiss constitution prevents the violation of certain principles, even by (or perhaps especially by) voter referendum.

TacticalEvilDan said:

It was Joe's question, but fair enough.

Also worth noting is that the Swiss constitution prevents the violation of certain principles, even by (or perhaps especially by) voter referendum.

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Ah, thought it was the same person.

Precisely, which makes it more of a republic than a democracy. I'm terrified of the idea of the majority voting to take the rights away from the minority.

A little fun fact, they actually remade their constitution in '99. I read it a little while back, it's a real beauty, definitely worth the read.

RabidAlpaca said:

Of course, I was just suggesting a very successful case study for your question.

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I appreciate your suggestion. I'm really starting to like this forum. Thanks!

I don't know enough about Switzerland to discuss this intelligently any further, but I look forward to finding the time to see how they do things.

TacticalEvilDan said:

They're also a lot smaller, more localized in their form of governance, and have a whole different perspective on government -- and life in general, for that matter.

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I hear that same excuse used for lots of things that work around the world. I won't pretend to be more educated than I am and dispute your claim, but I hold it suspect. At least in regard to a larger population or geographic size being prohibitive to adopting policies that have clearly worked well in other countries.

I'm actually thinking more about healthcare than our current discussion, but I hate the idea of geographic size or population being used as an argument not to adopt proven policies. With modern technology, everything is smaller than it appears, more connected than it appears, easier to track, and everyone is easier to communicate with. We can do things today that couldn't be imagined 20 years ago, but until we learn to teach old dogs new tricks, our government will continue to do business like it's 1989.

I guess I should be content to wait until the first generation of people that grew up with PC and internet to come to power. They will be the ones that really know how to harness the capabilities anyway.

Not trying to pick a fight. I just hear the size argument pretty much anytime I want to compare American policies to one that statistically outperforms us.

SypherAL said:

An interesting debate. Should voting in presidential elections be required by law? Of course this excludes felons and non-u.s. citizens. Legal voting age stays the same in this scenario.

My opinion: If you live in the United States, you will be required to vote in the United States. It would be a huge dis-respect to the millions of Americans that died for this country to sit at home on election day. This is a freedom many have died for so get out and participate!

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I would rather have it be so the idiots who know nothing of politics sit at home on their ass rather than go to the voting booths after seeing a smear ad telling them misleading information on why one candidate sucks and the other is better. It isn't freedom if it isn't a choice either.

Hugh_Akston said:

Yes, they had the wool pulled over their eyes.



God help us all if that happens. Gas twice as high as it was when he was sworn into office, massive debt accumulation, 15.1% true unemployment rate, 9.3 million underemployed (as of 10/11) and a crippling Health Care package. Anyone that would vote for him for a 2nd term has their head buried in the sand.

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IMO, NONE of these occurrences can be blamed on our President...or Presidents of the past..
IMO, he is actually too conservative......but, things must be in balance....
IMO, our people have bought woe unto themselves...
Cheap (affordable) goods from China , Mexico, India....this is a huge reason for the unemployment.
Oil from Arabia, our money goes over there, does it ever return ?
A second rate system of education ...local level politics...many years ago...
Our President is NOT a dictator, thank goodness....

Chaz said:

I would rather have it be so the idiots who know nothing of politics sit at home on their ass rather than go to the voting booths after seeing a smear ad telling them misleading information on why one candidate sucks and the other is better. It isn't freedom if it isn't a choice either.

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In Colonial times, the masters didn't want their slaves to vote either.

Joe51 said:

I hear that same excuse used for lots of things that work around the world. I won't pretend to be more educated than I am and dispute your claim, but I hold it suspect. At least in regard to a larger population or geographic size being prohibitive to adopting policies that have clearly worked well in other countries.

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If you re-read what I said, you will notice that size was one of three factors I listed.

I strongly believe that there should be severe penalties if the majority of people do not vote in elections. They should lose their power over government, the government should control their lives, that government should steal their money and give it to banksters and other special interests, and............ What? This is already happening? Well, there you go. We are paying the penalty for not taking our civic responsibilities seriously.