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CNN reports that when asked how to offset the influence of big money in politics, President Barack Obama suggested it's time to make voting a requirement. "Other countries have mandatory voting," said Obama "It would be transformative if everybody voted -- that would counteract money more than anything," he said, adding it was the first time he had shared the idea publicly.
"The people who tend not to vote are young, they're lower income, they're skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups. There's a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls."
At least 26 countries have compulsory voting, according to the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Failure to vote is punishable by a fine in countries such as Australia and Belgium; if you fail to pay your fine in Belgium, you could go to prison. Less than 37% of eligible voters actually voted in the 2014 midterm elections, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts. That means about 144 million Americans -- more than the population of Russia -- skipped out.
Critics of mandatory voting have questioned the practicality of passing and enforcing such a requirement; others say that freedom also means the freedom not to do something.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday March 22 2015, @04:27PM
You could vote for my cat, as I do, which shows my contempt clearly. By not voting, your protest is lost in the masses of the apathetic.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2015, @07:25PM
And your response seems like a mere idiot who thinks it's more important to joke around than to actually vote.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Sunday March 22 2015, @10:19PM
Maybe I am an idiot. Neither the DNC nor the GOP represent my views. I will vote for neither. If there is a 3d party candidate running, __any__ third party candidate, I vote for that person. Otherwise, I vote for my cat as a protest vote. I think it is important that my ballot be cast so that it can be counted in the whole, and yet dilute the percentages of the DNC and GOP candidates. If enough people who don't vote as a protest did this, their protest could be heard if the percentage rose to some level. But not voting as a protest merely makes a person indistinguishable from the apathetic. Anyway, in my way of thinking, the most idiotic thing I could do is to actually vote for someone I think sucks.
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Monday March 23 2015, @05:07PM
From now on I will vote for your cat instead of Batman for all uncontested or R v. D elections. What is your cat's name or can I just hemocyanin's cat?
Yes I am serious, in college one of the guys on my floor was a law enforcement major and we decided to run him as in county sheriff election as a write in against the unopposed current sheriff. As the college polling station was typically one of the first to report he had like 58% of the vote at one point but it eventually dropped to about 10%
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone