I learned today from Wikipedia that Australia has compulsory voting in its National elections. Would America be served well if it were to implement Compsulsory voting?
According to
this paper, there are additional countries that have compulsory voting as well, including Belgium, Greece, and Argentina, among others. Australia imposes a 20 Australian-dollar fine for not voting; the fine imposed by other countries varies.
First of all, in this diary, I will leave the issue of the electoral college aside. I would like this diary to serve as an initial discussion on the issue of Compulsory Democracy in America, which may lead to something greater in the future.
What would the political effects of compulsory voting in America be? At a glance, it would seem to be an effective means of making this Republic more Democratic. GOTV would have a whole new meaning. A turnout now in the 50 or 60 percent range of eligible voters would necessarily go up.
The implementation of this law would require logistical assistance to voting, in addition to financial penalties placed on non-voters. This logistical assitance would be expensive - an expenditure of millions of dollars and man-hours every two years. But, what is this cost given the benefit of political participation and Democracy? The poltical parties themselves would be forced to put in more time and resources to disseminate their message. This would mean more media advertising of course, but it might also mean that wedge issues could not be used as they have been by the Republicans, as small percentages of manipulated voters could not have such a large impact.
There is another important question here too. Is 'Compulsary Democracy' an oxymoron? Can it really be Democracy if people are forced to vote? We have been raised to think that the act of choosing to vote, regardless of who we vote for, is a Democratic act in and of itself. It could take some time for this mentality to change. Im sure opposing viewpoints would categorize compulsory voting as "Communist", but this would just be because of fear, as is the case generally with the use of such jargon. The Democratic act in a Compulsory National Election would instead be choosing who you vote for. That's more to the heart of Democracy the simple act of choosing to vote.