Thursday, October 2, 2008

Mandatory Voting

Should the U.S. have mandatory voting to guarantee that the will of the people is being served? Australia has mandatory voting and apparently has a mid 90 percent turnout. Should voting be a duty for the citizens of America? Would this change the way politicians campaign? Would the real issues become more important in a campaign? If this was implemented, would it be possible to enforce such a requirement and would the cost associated with such an effort be justified? If implemented, would this create more corruption and voter fraud? Would the public actually learn about the candidates prior to voting or just go and vote for anyone? This is an interesting concept, but there are certainly many questions that come to mind in relation to implementing such a concept in America. There is no question that too many citizens refuse to exercise the right to vote and voice their opinion. Something needs to wake up the citizens and provide that desire to participate in the election process, but the answer to solving this problem is elusive.