Cumpulsory voting in Americas

Quote: kenarman

Australia is about the size of the continental USA. If population is the criteria than by your reasoning the US is a blip on on the map compared to China.

It's not size, it's population. Making 200,000,000
people vote would be impossible, it would be
a joke. 20mil is hard enough, let alone 10 times
that many.

The argument in general in favor of making voting mandatory is that every interest group will be proportionately represented according to its population.

Quote: Dalex64

I thought we were talking about this because Obama floated the idea earlier this week.

President Obama floated the idea to gain rhetorical points against the Republicans. He said it would be a good way to diffuse the power of money in politics. He is not about to introduce a constitutional amendment.

If such a bill was legal on the state level, the states that are reliably Democrat don't want to bother, and the battle ground states are not going to want to lose that status. Even if I don't see how it would require a constitutional amendment, it doesn't matter. If someone were to introduce such a bill in Florida, you can bet that Rick Scott would say it wasn't constitutional. It would certainly be challenged in the courts.

Australia's voting laws may help one party, but I doubt that they consistently throw the election. Unless there is a massive change in US politics over the next few decades, if there were a 95% turnout of all eligible voters, then we would probably never see another Republican president.

The 2012 presidential election was 65.9m to 60.9m. The Voting Age population was 235.2m so about 100m didn't vote.

Quote: Pacomartin

Even if I don't see how it would require a constitutional amendment,

Let's say in 2017 a Republican president signs a law requiring everyone to attend a religious service at least once per month, or pay a fine. It can be any religion, and it doesn't even need to be the same religion month after month. Would that not be unconstitutional?

Quote: Wizard

The argument in general in favor of making voting mandatory is that every interest group will be proportionately represented according to its population.

If they express an opinion.

I don't mind compulsory voting as long as they have a count of spoiled or none of the above, AND if that wins, the election is declared void and no-one wins.

check out the rights and responsibilities of citizens at http://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learners/citizenship-rights-and-responsibilities

Quote:

Some of these responsibilities are legally required of every citizen, but all are important to ensuring that America remains a free and prosperous nation.

it doesn't say which responsibilities are legally required, but I'll point out two items on the list:

* Defend the country if the need should arise.

* Participate in the democratic process.

I'm no expert in what is or isn't in the constitution, but we know that you can be required to serve in the military. Since there is a "conscientious objector" to that, perhaps the same thing could apply to voting.

You have an obligation or a responsibility to pay taxes. You do not have a right to pay taxes.

Quote: Dalex64

check out the rights and responsibilities of citizens at http://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learners/citizenship-rights-and-responsibilities

Quote:

Some of these responsibilities are legally required of every citizen, but all are important to ensuring that America remains a free and prosperous nation.

it doesn't say which responsibilities are legally required, but I'll point out two items on the list:

* Defend the country if the need should arise.

* Participate in the democratic process.

The lead in paragraph...

Quote:

Citizenship is the common thread that connects all Americans. We are a nation bound not by race or religion, but by the shared values of freedom, liberty, and equality.

Tis my duty as an American to resist asinine laws that threaten my freedom and liberty =p

Quote: Dalex64

Since there is a "conscientious objector" to that, perhaps the same thing could apply to voting.

Canada has been debating the process as well

As we said the Australian law specifies that you must show up, mark your ballot, and put it in the box. The equivalent to conscientious objector would be someone who draws a smiley face on the back.

Quote: Nareed

You have an obligation or a responsibility to pay taxes. You do not have a right to pay taxes.

Yes, well, in one column is the right to vote, and in the other column is the responsibility to participate in the democratic process.

In one column is the right to a prompt, fair trial by jury. In the other column is the responsibility to serve on a jury. That particular responsibility is mandated by law.

As to the religion question you brought up earlier, that shows up on the list of rights, but nothing related to that appears on the list of responsibilities.

Now, that whole page has no force of law behind it, and even says that these lists are things that SHOULD be exercised and respected and whatnot. But, those are some of the founding principles, and any attempt to pass some mandatory voting law would certainly claim it is justified by those principles.

I'm not saying it is a good idea, I'm just saying that I agree with Pacomartin in that I don't think a constitutional amendment would be required to make this a law.

I also don't think there is any such thing as 'too big' when it comes to managing a vote to allow 100% of the eligible voters in America to vote if they wanted to. Add precincts, add polling places, add voting machines.