Given that America has about the very worst voter turnout in the world (or so, maybe not, but it is quite bad), what could be done to correct that?
Obviously, it is unrealistic to imagine mandatory voting, because, you know, freedom. So how about: if you are registered to vote and you fail to participate, you pay a fee for sitting it out. I mean, we went to all the trouble to set up and run this election, we saved a place for you at the table and you just brushed us off – we think you owe us a consideration.
Would this increase participation, or would it discourage registration? (If registration is tightly linked to getting a DL/ID, most people would not be able to avoid it.)
Probably a better way to manage it would be a tax credit for voting, that way you wouldn’t face the wrath of the no taxes ever community. You probably want to make it just enough to off set the inconvenience of voting but not enough to make it an actual incentive. People who have to be forced or bribed to vote really aren’t sort of people you want going to the polls. A large percentage of them will just vote for the first name on the ballot, making the ordering of the names one of the prime factors in who wins the election.
I think that most people who don’t vote believe that politics is a dirty fucking game that doesn’t actually impact their lives all that much, whichever side wins. Change that. Easy, huh?
I would think that it would be better to first work on making registration and voting easier, proposals as to how to do so being in abundance. If it is difficult to do so you will get people fined because the system was working against them.
A first good step would be to stop actively trying to reduce the number of people who vote.
No, because only people registered to vote would incur a fee for not voting. In my state, getting/renewing your driver’s license or state ID card can automatically register you to vote, which ought to be the national standard, I think.
Okay, so 98% of eligible voters show up, and 40% of them mark “none.” What do we do now? Void the election, require that new candidates file and do the whole thing over again?
Or, do we wring our hands and complain that 40% of the American people don’t even care enough to check a box? That’s what we’re doing already.
Wait, are you saying that voter registration should be universal and automatic -at least for anyone who wants to drive a car, cash a check, or buy liquor - and anyone who doesn’t show up to vote (I guess you’d accept a doctor’s note) should be fined? How is that different from mandatory voting?
Wouldn’t this run into the same problem that Democrats claim will happen with the census question? Non-citizens aren’t allowed to vote, so they would have to say they are not a citizen when they get the DL or ID card, and therefore be afraid they will get deported. Even more than with the census question - ID cards and driver’s licenses are explicitly linked to a person’s name, and are going to be shared with other agencies of the government so the government can be sure they voted.
I worked with a guy many years ago who went to the polls on voting day, got his ballot, and immediately walked to the other end of the table and turned it in, blank. It really confused the poor old lady working at the polling place, who kept trying to explain to him that he needed to go to one of the voting booths first to fill it out, while he kept trying to explain to her that he knew what he was doing.
What they need to do is move Election Day from Tuesday to Sunday, so that (many) people don’t need to try to arrange time off of work to go vote. Plus, they could set up polling places in or near churches so that people can hit the polls before or after church. But of course we all know that anything that improves voter turnout is going to get snuffed by the GOP, because they know they can’t win an election that isn’t rigged somehow.
If you don’t vote, every municipal fee costs an extra 2-5$. Marriage license, building permit, parking ticket, etc, etc. If you want to push your civic responsibility onto the rest of us you may, but, like all outsourcing it comes with a fee.
Participate in your democracy or pay for the privilege of us doing it for you.
many states have early voting, some let you vote for a month before election day. Others have voting by mail. I was surprised that early voting is not nationwide, it should be. ( It’s in 33 states now. NY state added it this year. )
Actually, the GOP might go for that one. It would increase voting rates by Christians who go to church, and might well decrease them for everybody else.
My polling place is set up in a church side-room. I always thought it a little strange, but it doesn’t stop me from voting. I can’t speak for anyone else, of course.
I’d wager a guess that the GOP would be okay with having voting booths outside of a church and working before and after Sunday mass. In general, the church goers are the ones they want at the polls. Try doing the same thing, but setting up a polling station outside a planned parenthood/free clinic and see how the GOP reacts.
To get back to the OP, I can’t see any way in which forcing people to vote (even if it’s a fine for not doing it or a credit for doing it) would help. The people that aren’t planning to vote, if forced, are going to do it just to say they’ve done it without putting any real thought into it.
Let the people that put some effort into their decision go to the polls and the people that don’t care can sit out.
And, IMO, if you really want to increase voter turnout, make a bigger deal about early and absentee voting. I’ve got zero interest in standing in line for hours and I’m guessing others feel the same way. A few election cycles ago, I found out that I can stop in at my city hall pretty much any time in the weeks leading up to the election, vote and be back in my car 90 seconds later. Even better when I learned they’ll mail be a ballot and I can fill it out at home and mail it back in.
At the moment, I’m set up so that they’ll automatically mail me a ballot for every election.
The funny thing is, when I first learned about absentee voting, it was worded in such a way as to appear to only be used for people in the military, on vacation or disabled/housebound. Upon closer inspection of the small print, anyone can get an absentee ballot, for any reason or no reason at all.
They don’t here [Wisconsin] either. IIRC, you have to prove that you’re disabled to have them automatically send ballots to you forever, but for an upcoming election or all elections for the rest of the year, they don’t ask.
I just recall being surprised that anyone can vote absentee given how the city (not the state) worded it. In fact, when I mention to people that I do it, they’re usually surprised for the same reason I was.