Obama floats mandatory voting

[F3SS]

http://www.foxnews.c...transformative/

Obama floated the idea of mandatory voting in the U.S. while speaking to a civic group in Cleveland on Wednesday. Asked about the influence of money in U.S. elections, Obama digressed into the topic of voting rights and said the U.S. should be making it easier for people to vote.

Just ask Australia, where citizens have no choice but to vote, the president said.

"If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country," Obama said, calling it "potentially transformative." Not only that, Obama said, but universal voting would "counteract money more than anything."

Disproportionately, Americans who skip the polls on Election Day are younger, lower-income and more likely to be immigrants or minorities, Obama said. "There's a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls," he said in a veiled reference to voter identification laws in a number of states.

Less than 37 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2014 midterms, according to the United States Election Project. And a Pew Research Center study found that those avoiding the polls in 2014 tended to be younger, poorer, less educated and more racially diverse.

No neither me nor the article is suggesting some dictatorial move here so save it. Just want to hear some thoughts on it. It's quite obvious why Obama is intrigued by the idea. He sees a huge untapped dependent class of voters. Does anyone think mandatory voting would be a democrat lockdown or would we just end up seeing, by a full vote count, the division line proportionally scaled up? Or, would it backfire and bring out a huge but currently quiet crop of conservative leaning voters thereby producing the opposite of the prez's intent as so many of his ideas do?

Edited March 19, 2015 by F3SS

[Keel M.]

I think money will always speak louder than votes.

[F3SS]

Probably. Just because one is required to vote does not mean that their vote is impenetrable to typical means of persuasion.

Edited March 19, 2015 by F3SS

[questionmark]

Greece is the best example that it does not work, all those government wasting money were elected by mandatory voting. But citizens should be aware that democracy is a "use it or loose it" game. If you don't vote don't be surprised to find yourself in a dictatorship.

[F3SS]

Insightful enough for me. Goes to my point that a mandatory vote isn't necessarily an informed one. To many it'd be a burden. Yea yea I have things to do, what button do I press to get out of here?

[bubblykiss]

Old Scratch proposed the same thing in heaven and look how well that worked out for him.

Edited March 19, 2015 by bubblykiss

[F3SS]

Am I the only person here who hasn't a clue about Old Scratch? Is that someone everybody just knows?

[Taun]

Am I the only person here who hasn't a clue about Old Scratch? Is that someone everybody just knows?

"Old Scratch" is a slang term for the Devil...

[Grandpa Greenman]

How about if you vote you can take 5 dollars off your taxes, if you vote for the right guy you can take 10. I would like to see them make it a national day off.

Edited March 19, 2015 by GreenmansGod

[bubblykiss]

"Old Scratch" is a slang term for the Devil...

I thought about calling him Big Louie, but Old Scratch is just too poetic to not use.

Edited March 19, 2015 by bubblykiss

[F3SS]

Oh ok, should've just said Lucifer or beezlebub...

Also, five or ten dollars a year won't persuade me to do anything I don't already want to do.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Won't work in America, too many people.

It works in Australia because of our relatively smaller population (ie voting booths see maybe 400-1000 people over the course of 12 hours, whereas American booths see the lower end of that number in a few hours without it being mandatory).

It'll be chaos.

It'll be a waste of people's time.

It'll involve a LOT of people getting fined for not voting because for whatever insane reason the American Polling day is a work day.

[Big Jim]

Regardless of how it would influence the vote, nothing is made mandatory without some coercive means to enforce it. We have plenty of mandatory things already, such as taxes and literally every other law on the books. Do we really want to criminalize another area of our lives? On the surface the law seems aimed at those that are either too lazy or apathetic to vote along with the poor and immigrants. What form of penalty would be considered effective enough to bring them to the polls? How do we manage the millions who still would not vote? Do we fine the poor, build more jails? It sounds like reason enough to create a new bureaucracy to have yet one more function centrally managed. For someone who is against voter ID it seems to be an odd suggestion. How else do we determine who has voted as required and who needs to be prosecuted? As usual, Obama's proposals cause more problems than they attempt to solve.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Big Jim

[Careful_perspective]

We just really need to have off for Election Day. It's ridiculous that people have off for Columbus day or for Presidents' Day, but not for Election Day.

[F3SS]

Regardless of how it would influence the vote, nothing is made mandatory without some coercive means to enforce it. We have plenty of mandatory things already, such as taxes and literally every other law on the books. Do we really want to criminalize another area of our lives? On the surface the law seems aimed at those that are either too lazy or apathetic to vote along with the poor and immigrants. What form of penalty would be considered effective enough to bring them to the polls? How do we manage the millions who still would not vote? Do we fine the poor, build more jails? It sounds like reason enough to create a new bureaucracy to have yet one more function centrally managed.

Great points. I didn't think of all that yet but my first fleeting thought was this would keep government big and growing if it worked. Government's going to do that regardless these days but would be amplified if this were a thing.

[F3SS]

We just really need to have off for Election Day. It's ridiculous that people have off for Columbus day or for Presidents' Day, but not for Election Day.

I know but it's just one day every 2-4 years. So what if you get home a little late just one day. Please realize, I'm the first to grumble when I don't feel like doing something extra on some days but I do what I need to do. The thing with day off national holidays is that they equate to laziness or family affairs. Something about non-mandatory voting day feels more like a "screw it, I'm off" day than a motivating "can't wait to leave this couch or barbeque and do my civic duty" kind of day. I could be wrong but I think things would look the same or worse than they do now turnout-wise.

[Wendigo Wangs]

liberal paradise: Everything that is not banned is mandated.

[Bama13]

We just really need to have off for Election Day. It's ridiculous that people have off for Columbus day or for Presidents' Day, but not for Election Day.

People, besides bankers and federal employees, get Columbus Day and President's Day off? I did not know that. I believe that many states now have early voting where you can start voting about 2 weeks before election day. Then there is the absentee ballot. Don't really see the need for another day off, although I would appreciate it I don't think it would make any more people vote. They would just take the day off and go fishing, or BBQ, or what not. Maybe a day off if you actually voted, but that might open another can of worms.

[Careful_perspective]

People, besides bankers and federal employees, get Columbus Day and President's Day off? I did not know that. I believe that many states now have early voting where you can start voting about 2 weeks before election day. Then there is the absentee ballot. Don't really see the need for another day off, although I would appreciate it I don't think it would make any more people vote. They would just take the day off and go fishing, or BBQ, or what not. Maybe a day off if you actually voted, but that might open another can of worms.

IDK my best friend and her girlfriend both work in private insurance agencies and get off, my mom does too and she works for an HVAC place.

[Gromdor]

Brazil does the mandatory voting thing and does it pretty efficiently. The results however aren't that spectacular. Just have a bigger pool of confused and uneducated people to drown out the votes of those that actually care.

[+OverSword]

Mandatory voting for our fake federal elections where most drones believe that having the choice between choice A and choice B who differ very slightly is really a free choice? LOL! And he thinks this will counter-balance the big money influence in our elections? LOL! How about some serious legislation changing the way elections are funded like eliminating super pacs from paying for advertising and limiting corporate donations and the various shell games they are able to play while doing so? And this from the jerk who raised over a billion dollars for both of his presidential runs? LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!! 2016 can't come soon enough. not that I believe anything will change after that but at least I won't be subjected to this particular d-bag in chief.

[Sundew]

I see, FOR mandatory voting, AGAINST mandatory voter i.d. Sounds like a way to keep Democrats in power forever. Kim Jong Un would be proud, I hear he gets great turn out also.

[+OverSword]

Won't work in America, too many people.

It works in Australia because of our relatively smaller population (ie voting booths see maybe 400-1000 people over the course of 12 hours, whereas American booths see the lower end of that number in a few hours without it being mandatory).

It'll be chaos.

It'll be a waste of people's time.

It'll involve a LOT of people getting fined for not voting because for whatever insane reason the American Polling day is a work day.

In my state we vote by mail.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

In my state we vote by mail.

I thought they gave femails the vote ages ago

[Use your brain]

Mandatory voting for our fake federal elections where most drones believe that having the choice between choice A and choice B who differ very slightly is really a free choice? LOL! And he thinks this will counter-balance the big money influence in our elections? LOL! How about some serious legislation changing the way elections are funded like eliminating super pacs from paying for advertising and limiting corporate donations and the various shell games they are able to play while doing so? And this from the jerk who raised over a billion dollars for both of his presidential runs? LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!! 2016 can't come soon enough. not that I believe anything will change after that but at least I won't be subjected to this particular d-bag in chief.

I was going to post something like this. The main problem is that you have a "choice" between two people. How in the hell would mandatory voting fix the money issue?

Please don't say something about a third party, they would never be allowed to win.

Nothing is going to change until we demolish the ludicrous system of republicans and democrats. Why can't we just take the best things from both sides and go with that. Some people would choose their favorite gang no matter who was face of it, and that is beyond stupid.