I don't believe you have to be a fascist to support mandatory voting (I do understand this was not fully serious), but I think mandatory voting is a bad idea. As some people have already written, if you vote, you should first educate yourself. It is better if those who are not interested in educating themselves don't cast votes. I respect an educated political opponent much more than an uneducated voter for my own party.

If anything, I would rather see a decrease in voters through a form of mandatory education or test of knowledge for everyone who wants to vote. However, since I am pretty sure such a system could very easily be tampered with to exclude people with the "wrong" ideas to vote, I am not in favour of it either.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

Forcing people to vote is an extremely bad idea.. Too many do not pay attention to what is going on in the country, & or could care less.

So these forced voters would just end up canceling out anothers vote, who actually studied the ballot, knows the candidates & the issues.

People who do not study the issues & candidates should not vote.

We could try the alternative I believe Russia used, giving the opportunity to vote "none of the above" and forcing the parties to come up with new candidates! (if there were enough such "none of the above" votes).

I don't think "mandatory voting" is a good idea, in a free country one should be free NOT to vote if one chooses. As to the "education" issue, I doubt that the non-voters are any less educated than the voters are - perhaps they are more educated and realize either candidate will do exactly the same things, no matter what they promise. Besides, some studies have shown most people support candidates and issues based on emotion, not reason.

Voter participation might be increased through an incentive, like making election day a paid holiday, but paid only if one produces a receipt showing they actually voted. This still gives people freedom of choice - if they choose not to vote they can either work or take an unpaid holiday.

Mandatory voting is the most foolish notion i heard in a long time.

I would love mandatory education of the poiticians platforms that people vote on

Would you not love a voting record and platform of each candidate handed to you before the vote.

We this board seem to know alot.

The average voter i think cant even name the vice president or speaker of the house yet they vote.

Think how dirty politics would get if everyone had to vote. No truth all slander because the people that dont vote now would pull the ticket for the best campaigner that they saw a 30 second spot on.

Or they would take the advice of their heroe whether its 50 cents, dixie chicks, lee greenwood, or sammy sosa.

Dumb people can vote if they take the initiative

Lets not force them too.

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Hardcore Conservative !

I said Conservative not necessarly Republican or Democrat. Liberals are in both of those parties.

So what happens if you don't vote? A fine?

reprogramming centers :P

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Hardcore Conservative !

I said Conservative not necessarly Republican or Democrat. Liberals are in both of those parties.

I believe this is the case in Belgium, where they have mandatory voting.

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

NOT true. take a look at Australia where we do have mandatory voting - but we are nowhere near as partisan as you are - although there are a range of other factors that contribute to this.

I think its the difference in the mental landscape. we have a healthy skepticism of our politicians, while in the US faith plays a greater role. This kind of leads to a political following that to an outsider looks like religious devotion.

Truth I tell ya!

in this country, where we do have mandatory voting, many people vote on the same basis as they do in the US. Some vote on the basis of perceived self interest, most are no more nor less influenced buy the lies of their political leaders than you are, and some will vote based on personality factors.

What is noticeably different is that partisanship is much less marked. The fact that we have the Liberals (ie conservatives) in the Federal parliament, and Labor governments in all states tends to testify to that. It is true that there are people who vote along party lines because they always have, their parents did etc ... but this is no different from int he US.

The lead up to the election is relatively short, and it is held nationally on one day (a Saturday). State elections are also held on Saturdays with the same lead time.

after coming to USPO over the last two and a half years + I am pretty convinced that US politics is a much nastier and divisive system than ours.

there is a $50 fine, but it is easily avoided by casting a 'donkey vote' if you are so anti voting.

Please explain how manditory voting could decrease partisan politics?

What is the logic? How would that work exactly?

Perhaps I am missing something, but I fail to see a connection between manditory voting and partisan politics.

The question sounds to me comparable to, "Would manditory viewing of the Superbowl keep fans from cheering for either team, and/or change the outcome of the game?

It makes no sense to me.

FUDFREE

Please explain how manditory voting could decrease partisan politics?

What is the logic? How would that work exactly?

Perhaps I am missing something, but I fail to see a connection between manditory voting and partisan politics.

The question sounds to me comparable to, "Would manditory viewing of the Superbowl keep fans from cheering for either team, and/or change the outcome of the game?

It makes no sense to me.

FUDFREE

The term "donkey vote" was new to me, but thanks to the Internet I got an answer:

A "donkey vote" means voting according to a pattern, e.g. choosing the first candidate or option on each issue - like checking A, A, A, A on a multiple choice test. You need to create multiple versions of the ballot, with order randomized, or else the person in the first slot always wins. As long as the voting system ensures that donkey votes go to statistically-random selections, they aren't a huge problem - they tend to make counts closer than they would be otherwise.
Source: http://www.thetalentshow.org/archives/000773.html

Wouldn't the term "donkey vote" mean a vote for the Democrats in the USA, with the donkey as their party symbol?

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President Josiah Bartlet: Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
Leo McGarry: Maybe they don't and they can't add.

It looks like that to a lot of insiders, too.