I have an idea to stimulate voter participation. We should have a $50 tax credit for voting. This would be in addition to other incentives such as increased absentee balloting, national holiday for elections, etc.
Even in 2004, where interest was high, we ony got 60% turnout. See
http://elections.gmu.edu/... to see how your state did.
I have heard the argument that the non-voters do not have much to add since they are uninformed, but we have uninformed voters now - they are called Republicans!! There is an interesting article on this issue from Australia, where voting is mandatory. Go to http://crookedtimber.org/....
My plan is very simple and accomplishes 2 very important goals:
1) Increases turnout, especially among the lower classes where $50 would mean a lot.
2) Creates a feedback loop to the electorate to verify their vote was counted - a Treasury check!!
The way it would work:
- local election officials would report to the Treasury who voted (not who they voted for, just the fact that they voted).
- The Treasury would send checks after all votes have been reported.
Costs: about $10 billion every even year if all voters participated. Not much money when your consider how much it would save by keeping our government afraid of the people, which is how our democracy is supposed to work. The lower economic classes would become a big factor in driving policy.
I would like to see a voting incentive bill offered by the next Congress, once the Dems take charge. We could have the tax credit combined with some of the other ideas.
It would be interesting to see how many Republicans vote for it - it is a tax cut which is supposedly what they are all about - oh wait - it benefits middle class and poor people, and it drives voter turnout, things they do not like. Scumbags.
