Mandatory Voting?

Jack Sutter 10 Comments

I just read an article about President Obama floating this idea and while the gist of it was that even in his opinion making it happen would be a long term proposition (i.e. unlikely) I’m a little put off just by the idea of it. I mean… Are you fucking kidding me? From the article I was reading…

“At issue, Obama said, is the outsize influence that those with money can have on U.S. elections, where low overall turnout often gives an advantage to the party best able to turn out its base.”

I get the logic but I’m also a little irritated at the idea of being compelled to do something, risking legal consequences if I fail or refuse. Matter of fact the new healthcare (read “health insurance”) laws piss me off and I qualify for the free shit, the shit tax-payers pay for, the shit I don’t want because my health is my fucking problem, not the problem of other tax payers who happen to make more money than me. As it is if I made just a little more money I could be fined for not having health insurance.

Now the funny thing about this is I make a point of voting. Every local election, every proposition, and every presidential election since I’ve been old enough. But if I’m ever told I am required to vote I’m going to refuse. The problem noted is that the current system gives an advantage to the party best able to turn out it’s base… well, so what? That’s the result of two things: a capitalist approach, which is very ‘survival of the fittest’ and imo a good thing, and a more or less two-party system. The capitalist part needs to stay in my opinion (ref. this or this if you want more of my opinions in favor of it).

If you fail to get the turn out you need, fail to get the funding, or… whatever, then don’t cry like a little bitch about it. The other guy won, get the fuck over it, because that’s all i really boils down to: they did a better job at campaigning and selling themselves. Don’t like it? Better luck next time. Putting a cap on the amount a politician can receive from any one contributor is all well and fine but going much further is, to me, throwing the baby out with the bath water. Try to mandate me into support of that and you can just go get fucked. I’ll grant that my response probably seems a bit over the top, but…

That’s roughly what I think about the idea of mandatory voting.

10 thoughts on “Mandatory Voting?”

  1. I’m impressed that you vote in every election. I’m not sure if I am opposed to mandatory voting. I do see some benifits. I’m pretty sure Australia does it and it seems to work out okay for them. I also vote at every opportunity. If you don’t vote you then you shouldn’t bitch. And I like to bitch.

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    • That’s one of the biggest reasons I make a point of voting; I think someone who bothered to get involved in the process has a little more say when they want to criticize how it works, who won, or which laws were passed. And I’m in the same boat, I like to bitch 😉 . I just don’t think it’s much of a right if you can’t also refrain from it without consequence. It’ like free speech. I have the right to speak freely, to say virtually whatever I want. But I also have the right to maintain my silence, and not just when it comes to an arrest. No one can compel me to speak on something because it’s my right, to exercise or not as I please.

      That’s really the only problem I have with it. If it’s mine to do with what I will, I should be able to do it or not at my own discretion, imo. I do think it would be interesting to see the results of an election where virtually everyone voted but… if people don’t care then (if they’re required to votge anyways) I think their vote is going to reflect that apathy (or scorn for the overall system), whether it’s in flipping a coin or in some other manner.

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      • You’re probably right in that if everyone was compelled to vote and a majority didn’t care we might have a real mess. Hell we could have chickens and pigs elected.

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  2. Voting is mandatory in Brazil and… I really wish it wasn’t. I was unable to vote one year because I lost my ID and they obviously don’t let you do it if you can’t identify yourself. So, I was not allowed to vote, but at the same time I had pay a fine for not voting. I don’t know in other countries, but over here it’s bullshit.

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  3. Personally, I’ve never found a candidate that I cared enough about to vote for, or cared enough about to vote against, so I’ve never even registered. I think it’s my right to opt out of voting if I so desire. If voting becomes mandatory in this country, I guess I’ll have to comply – but they’ll have to send some cute young deputies to carry me to the polls ’cause I’m not giving in easily. And then I’ll just flip a coin or something, so what value will my vote really have?

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    • Those are exactly the reasons why I don’t see the point or value in making it mandatory 🙂 . It’s not much of a “right”, to me, if you can’t also choose *not* to exercise it. Kind of like free speech. You can say whatever you want but you can also remain silent, cannot be compelled to speak about this or to that, if you so choose. That’s how rights *should* be imo, up to the individual to decide on how they will (or won’t) exercise them.

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