Mandatory voting

[waitingtoconnect]

I live in Australia and here voting is mandatory for federal and state elections. If you don’t vote you are fined fifty dollars.

What do people think. Is mandatory voting something to consider? I’m sure it’s never get past the Supreme Court but let’s assume for a moment they’d not bother on this one.

[msteelers]

As much as I hate that so many people can’t be bothered to get even slightly informed and take a few minutes/hours out of their day every two years to vote… I think I hate the idea of mandatory voting even more.

[The Meal]

How effective is it when they form joke candidates and joke parties so that low-information voters can safely throw away their vote and not affect the “real” tallies?

[Unagi]

Yeah, it seems like we already have too many voters that aren't voting for any actual policy, but rather have been convinced to vote for Team X because the other Team sucks, and I don't think that's healthy.

[Scraper]

It would violate the Constitution in many ways, perhaps mostly the 1st Amendment. BUT even if they could get past that massive hurdle the Republicans would never allow it because if everyone voted they would lose every election.

[Kraken]

It would violate the Constitution in many ways, perhaps mostly the 1st Amendment. BUT even if they could get past that massive hurdle the Republicans would never allow it because if everyone voted they would lose every election.

Yeah, high turnout favors Dems. That's why gerrymandering and suppression are cornerstones of the R playbook.

[El Guapo]

I'm not exactly opposed to the idea, but it would never happen due to how America works. Though I could imagine a mandatory voting requirement spurring a voting boycott from the "muh rights" crowd, which would be great.

That said, there are fairly straightforward rules that could vastly increase voter participation. Automatic voter registration (which could also include providing a free voting ID to anyone if conservatives really want that, plus making voting day a holiday (and/or requiring states to provide early voting periods including on weekends).