Sure, the elections may be many months away, but you wouldn't know it by the amount of campaigning and fundraising activity across the country. In my travels, it came to my attention that 2 of the countries in which I recently travelled - Peru and Ecuador - have mandatory voting requirements. In other words, all able bodied persons of voting age, MUST vote, (and they are provided with proof, which is probably more durable than the "I voted!" sticker we receive at my local polling place) or you become ineligible for government services. So for instance, without this proof, you cannot register your car.
Do you think mandatory voting should be instituted in the United States (or in Canada for our north of the border friends)?
posted by Diane at 10:56 AM
10 Comments:
Off the top of my head, no, I don't think it should be mandatory. I don't think you should be forced to vote.
But if this was put to a vote (haha), I'd want to see statistics on who's not voting and why before casting judgment.
It would be nice to see younger people vote, but no, I don't think it should be manditory to vote. If it was, I would imagine the the Marijuana Party of Canada would gather more seats in the next election.
I'm 24, and ever since I was eligable to vote (18 in Canada) I've done so in every municipal, provincial and federal election. There has been a call recently for Canada to lower it's voting age to 16, which is something I'd support.
Oops, that should have been "nice to see MORE younger people vote"
To me, a mandatory voting law just dosen't sound like it fits together. In my opinion, in a free society one should not be required to vote.
I think that voting is a privilege...if people were forced into voting it would feel like some of our freedom was being taken away.
No.
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The requirements for voting should be as followed:
1) Male
2) White
3) Property Owner
Call me Old Skool.
You forgot "heterosexual" Ryan. Lol.
Yeah, I'd be against mandatory voting. Though maybe I could be convinced if there was a "none of the above" selection on each ballot. I've read certain nations have this and "none of the above" gets pretty popular.
Speaking of voting and elections, I'd like to see more institutional support for third parties. I think if third party candidates were allowed to the televised debates and given more access, more people would vote. Just my 2 cents.
PS - lol@Ryan
But you forget 4) Heterosexual.
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