Should voting be mandatory?

Is it even feasible?
Not just for the Presidency, but all pertinent elections applicable to the State, county, city etc. in which a person lives.

So, should it, and is it feasible?

No.

Nope, if a person does not want to vote and is forced into it..they aren't really going to think about who they are voting for..they are probably just going to pick at random.

Originally posted by riv6672
Is it even feasible?
Not just for the Presidency, but all pertinent elections applicable to the State, county, city etc. in which a person lives.

So, should it, and is it feasible?

No. It's a very bad idea because people who vote without being forced to have done their research on the candidates and will make an intelligent vote based on who they think best serves their interests and/or has the same or similar stances on key issues. If everybody is forced to vote then those who know nothing about the candidates will just make a random choice for who to vote for. It'd do much more harm than good, imo.

Originally posted by riv6672
Is it even feasible?
Not just for the Presidency, but all pertinent elections applicable to the State, county, city etc. in which a person lives.

So, should it, and is it feasible?

I don't think it should be mandatory, but I do think there should be extra incentive for casting a ballot. Not sure how to provide that though.

Originally posted by Star428
No. It's a very bad idea because people who vote without being forced to have done their research on the candidates and will make an intelligent vote based on who they think best serves their interests and/or has the same or similar stances on key issues. If everybody is forced to vote then those who know nothing about the candidates will just make a random choice for who to vote for. It'd do much more harm than good, imo.

This is a bad idea, now you have no choice, you only have 2, Not before long, we will only have 1.

Isn't Australia do this? Or have a fine system set up if you don't vote?

Maybe we could set up a system like in Starship Troopers. Citizens and Civilians.
1 set having more rights then the others due to PARTICIPATION!

aka. the pot heads get SCREWED!

The system in Starship Troopers was that you could only vote if you served in the military or in equivalent civil service, not that people who voted were given more privileges.

Originally posted by Time-Immemorial
This is a bad idea, now you have no choice, you only have 2, Not before long, we will only have 1.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
The system in Starship Troopers was that you could only vote if you served in the military or in equivalent civil service, not that people who voted were given more privileges.

I think it could work if participation were mandatory, but you still had the option of casting a blank ballot. That way at least everyone would be involved in some way with the process, but they wouldn't be forced to make a choice.

That is actually a really good idea.

Right now, I need to start researching Belgian candidates. Voting is mandatory over there and I have absolutely no idea who's good or bad, only that the Flemish National Party are apparently racist assholes so I should avoid all of their candidates.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
Right now, I need to start researching Belgian candidates. Voting is mandatory over there and I have absolutely no idea who's good or bad, only that the Flemish National Party are apparently racist assholes so I should avoid all of their candidates.

Don't say the world Belgian right now, I'm hungry.

On the real though, any voting reform in America should try to break the influence of money and shatter the two party stranglehold.

I kind of hope that the Republican and Democrat parties break up into extreme and moderate pieces. That way we'd have four parties plus the biggest current third parties (Green and Libertarian) might become serious contenders as they absorb former Democrats and Republicans.

Originally posted by Time-Immemorial
Don't say the world Belgian right now, I'm hungry.

All of the above.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
On the real though, any voting reform in America should try to break the influence of money and shatter the two party stranglehold.

I kind of hope that the Republican and Democrat parties break up into extreme and moderate pieces. That way we'd have four parties plus the biggest current third parties (Green and Libertarian) might become serious contenders as they absorb former Democrats and Republicans.

Yea and its so obvious dems and republicans try and hold onto their power so bad, they don't want anymore competition. This two party system has got to go.

Originally posted by Time-Immemorial
All of the above.

Thanks for the great responses, guys.
Like Omega Vision, i'm not sure what incentives could be provided, but, maybe non participation could be handled like the IRS handles non payment of taxes?
Have an sudit where you provide proof as to why you didnt vote (hospitalization, incarceration, some circumstance where application for an absentee ballot wasnt possible...), and if that proof wasnt adequate, you'd be fined, the amount varying on a case by case basis.
Not really an incentive, more of a stick than a carrot, actually...

Originally posted by Omega Vision
Now I'm hungry too.

I'm guessing we were doing the same thing last night 😮‍💨

The problem with providing incentives is..well, some people will then just vote in order to get the incentive. That doesn't really help the country if this person doesn't really know the issues of who they are voting for and is just doing it to get some kind of reward.

the opportunity to vote and decide who governs your country should be incentive enough!