I've always thought so, but after Citizen's United, what's the point? Votes can be bought and sold freely now. Lying is legal, cheating is expected. Still, I voted yes. There's the tiniest glimmer of non-skeptic left, I suppose.
I dunno... there's a lot of idiots out there who believe whatever the media spoon-feeds them... case in point: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-...y-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2173 29% of American voters consider FOX News to be the most trusted network for their daily news...
Not if they are voting out of revenge against the government forcing them to do so. "You wanna force me to vote cause you don't like big campaign contributors? Well f*** you. I'm gonna vote for whoever contributes the most money. Who's laughing now?"
Yes - unfortunately, between Straight Ticket voters (which is available in 11 states, and as an example, in the 2006 election in Texas, roughly 45% of the TOTAL ballots cast were straight ticket votes) and party-line voters, 29% is a HUGE amount of votes being swayed by a single entity (one being sponsored quite heavily by a particular party, I might add)
For comparison, in Australia we have compulsory voting. In practice, this doesn't mean you're forced to vote. It's more like compulsory turning up. You have to turn up to a voting booth on election day, or send in a postal vote or whatever. But nobody looks at what you write on your ballot paper at the time you vote - they are only looked at when the votes are counted. So, if you have a conscientious objection to voting, you can roll up, write "I hate politics!" on your ballot and go home. The main point in favour of compulsory voting, I think, is that it forces people of voting age to take some notice of the political process at least once every few years.
I'm fine with the idea of compulsory voting. I also think some form of abstention and write-in must be available to each vote as applicable. And I am uncertain whether compulsory voting is permissible under the Constitution. It is also impossible to not suggest the resistance such an idea would meet in the present American public discourse. We can't sweep up the potsherds fast enough right now to get ... well ... anything done.
I'd think not for freedom to either vote or not should only be done by those who vote and not those who tell them to vote.
So you want to disenfranchise Fox News workers and Republican talk radio workers? What we really need to do is get rid of all the special interest money and reinstate The Fairness Doctrine. A well informed voter is critical to the health and well-being of our democracy.
By making people vote won't change the way Congress spends money or is under the control of big business and special interest groups. Also making people vote won't make voters any more responsible for they still can't have any real input into what Congress does. Voting for Congress members then having them write the bills at an 8th grade level then showing it to the public for the public to vote upon would be a better idea. You could make a TV channel devoted to displaying the bills , newspapers and internet also. Let the people vote on the bills that Congress writes and not letting Congress vote for anything.
I can't vote in Brazil but those who are citizen must, if not older than (65? I think) or have medical certificate telling why not. For the 20 Years I have been permanent resident, they have had fine voting machines - smaller than a bread box. You can vote a straight party line - If you chose that, machine displays that party's symbals & common letters before your cast your vote. If you want to vote for a friend or many differ people, their photo will appear prior to you confirming that is who you want to vote for. - Not all of the old can read. There are two ways at the machine to not vote: One is to "null vote" and other is to void your vote. Not sure, but think people and parties with funds can buy brief (minute or less?) TV adds, but there is an election hour on TV at least weekly in the month or so before election. How much of the hour your party gets for free is related to how many are of that party are in government already. Despite this advantage there are 5 or so main parties and 6 or more smaller ones. Some years ago one independent got only about 9 seconds. He just said: "My name is _____" until his time was up. - That became a joke, much commented on, etc. - got him re-elected on name recognition. The elections results are known almost immediately after poles close. - voting boxes have secure leased phone lines to data centers. Later the vote count recorded by each box is also checked against the number of votes received at the data center. The elections are honest - the crooks take over once elected.
This is true - the scary bit is that people buy into what they (both sides) say without question or doing their own research
