Pondering the lousy turnout even in Connecticut’s hot Democratic Senate primary, Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, suggests a radical remedy in a New York Times commentary: mandatory voting. In Australia, he notes, those who don’t vote and don’t offer a reason must pay a $15 fine, which escalates with multiple offenses. The result, he notes, is "a turnout rate of more than 95 percent. The fine, of course, is an incentive to vote. But the system has also instilled the idea that voting is a societal obligation. It has also elevated the political dialogue."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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31 Comments
Rhonda, you and Randy need to talk, this is what he said about CT Voter turnout: And Democrats in Connecticut turned out in huge numbers Tuesday to dethrone a pol like Lieberman who clearly doesn’t get it. Lieberman’s stubborn decision to runrun as an independent in the fall campaign only underscores his smug cluelessness.The truth is, Rhonda, you are right on this one, there are more Independants in CT than there are Republicans or Democrats, and so the primary vote, by definition and simple math, dealt with small numbers.
Your picture of people voting doesn’t reflect Kansas’ new voting machines.
http://www.dailyu.com/Editorial/default.asp (link likely to change)Junction City Daily Union, August 6, 2006
“Our biggest complaint about the machines was the lack of privacy. Maybe we’re too used to voting in booths with curtain”
“While it required some effort to look to either side of the machine to see how others voted, it certainly wasn’t hard to glance from behind to see how the vote was being cast.”
“There is a need for more privacy when casting ballots.”
http://www.themercury.com/view/article_plain.asp?sectionid=Opinion/Default/LettersToEditor&id=985-2006-08-10-54480-58Manhattan Mercury, Aug 10, 2006Letter to Editor by President, Manhattan-Riley County League of Women Voters:”The dominate refrain we have been hearing relates to a total lack of privacy while voting. The machines were out in the open and did not shield the voting from being viewed by other voters, precinct workers or people coming to the voting places for business at those locations. Voters were observed hopping back and forth to help friends, and at most locations the machines were placed facing poll workers. There were also no private booths for people voting on paper ballots.”
It is considered a civic duty to respond to a call to jury service, but a warrant is issued for your arrest if you fail to appear. Why should the civic duty of voting be any different? Unless the powers that be are content to allow only the elite to elect our leaders.
Why not treat our elections like reality show contests (e.g., American Idol)? We could have all the candidates come out and compete on stage and then let the citizenry text in thier vote yeah or nea. A staggering number of people vote during this competition; well more than any presidential race. Seems like it would work. What do you think Rhonda?
If people don’t care enough to go out and vote on their own then I don’t want them voting. Leave the deciding up to people who give a shit, people who will actually educate themselves on the issues.
Gee, I bet those Ausies actually pay attention to political platforms and hold their leaders accountable, especially since there is no doubt they will be voting.
Mandatory voting is a very bad idea. Most people vote for selfish emotional reasons than logical reasons and having the vast uninformed voters out there you’re going to get somebody like Terry Fox or Joe Wright running the government.
We got too much of that now, we don’t need to push it further.
Let the people who care and informed vote.
Both sides have a point on this one…
But im going to have to agree with Joe et al. on this one. We will end up with more people just voting party lines or voting what their church says….
CF the commie thinks voting should be mandatory. But he loves watching Repukes make arguments to the contrary that American citizens are the unwashed masses who can’t be trusted with the power to decide their own fate. You conservatives need to evolve a bit, since Edmund Burke was shovelling that same tired, royalist tripe back in the 18th century.
People who vote should receive free beer. People who don’t vote should be put in the stocks and have rotten fruit thrown at them.
CF! Our system of government isn’t design on mob rule. So your aurgument is moot!
The Founding Fathers specifically designed our system of government, because the masses couldn’t be trusted and it shouldn’t. Checks and Balances! Electorial College! Seperate branches of government, two houses of Congress, and etc. It’s not perfect but it works.
JOE, that’s a wonderful bedtime story.
Now if we could just get the asshole in chief and his cronies to actually adopt that and use it!!
Have to agree with heckler on this – do we really need totally uninformed people voting? In fact, I want to see some sort of simple citizenship test required to vote.
Only two more years left Tracy. Good thing is that the Administration is term limited.
Joe..There is still plenty of time to declare martial law…..
What is funny Ben is that to be Naturalized as a Citizen you must take a test, but to vote, it would be considered a ‘literacy test’, which is against the Voter Rights Act.
But really the only privilage you get from being a Permenant Resident to a Citizen, is to vote in elections. (That might change in the future)
So if a Permenant Resident wants to vote, they must pass a Citizenship Test. Born citizens just needs to registar.
Here is my opinion,
If you truely want to “make” people vote, then we should require a test to do so.
Before you can vote, you have to take a test on who your representatives currently are and who the President is and the key figures in his cabinet.
You must also be able to pass a section on what is contained in the Constitution, things like the Bill of rights and key amendments.
If you fail to get at least an 80% then you don’t get to vote.
Otherwise, making people vote is just asking for a bunch of people who didn’t care otherwise to vote on things they didn’t care about enough to do on their own or are even knowledgeable about.
Mandatory voting would only give undue legitimacy to our rotten system. Forcing people to vote for the dregs that the dem and repukes throw up every election cycle would be a crime. Happily, the demorats and repukes are about to go the way of the Whigs and the Federalists and I can only say good riddance!
Viva La Revolucion Blanco!!!
If it’s such a rotten system, then what are you here for?Go back to your island brown boy.
Nathan, I’m curious, what’s your opinion of this racist punk Ian?
Tracy,
I am not “brown” you decrepit old coconut and I was born here. Why don’t you put YOUR ass where your mouth is and move to haiti, da congo or even detroit, hypocrit!
V.L.R.B!!!
If a person does not vote – they have absolutely no right to complain about the outcome.
Wow, I can’t believe that anyone would support such a horrible idea. Why just stop at fines, how about prison time for anyone that does not vote, baby steps will not get our march toward totalitariansim done.
Would this be an expample of the freedom that we are hated for?
Fascism is on the march right here at home.
Tracy,
I mostly ignore anything Ian says just like Ed.
I do believe he likes guns and has some pretty cool ones and that is about as far as I go on the agreement part.
Good idea, Nathan.
But the test should be “did Saddam have ties to terrorism?” “did he possess WMD’s at the time the US invaded Iraq?” and “did Saddam pose a grave and gathering threat to the US?”
The correct answer to all these questions is “no.”
You and all the other Faux News viewers would get it wrong so only informed “reality-based” people could vote.
That would be a huge improvement.
But, seriously, instead of fine if you don’t vote, how about a tax refund of 100 dollars if you DO vote?
“Our biggest complaint about the machines was the lack of privacy. Maybe we’re too used to voting in booths with curtain”
Conservatives are so concerned with privacy in the voting booth, but it’s ok to tap your phone and search your bank records or check your libary card.
Go figure…
Heckler,
“Leave the deciding up to people who give a shit, people who will actually educate themselves on the issues.”
Like you’ve educated yourself on the estate tax issue? We’re still waiting for your link(s) proving it destroys family-owned businesses.
‘Educating the People’http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1350.htm“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government;… whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.” –Thomas Jefferson’ 1789
What’s wrong Ian?You seem a little upset.It’s simple, if you think our system sucks you should leave.I’m sure your island would make you a hero for coming home.Imagine that, little Ian Gonzales.If you hurry you can get a photo op with Castro. He should be your hero, he don’t like ‘racial mixing’ either.
I hear ya’ Nathan.I’ve got a few pretty neat guns too.
Ian, you ever had a lung knocked loose by some decrepit old coconut?
Tracy,
I ain’t going anywhere. I have no connection with that negro, mullatto shithole that is present day Cuba. As for our system it is broken, beyond repair. We are where the soviet union was in 1987; it’s too late to reform or save it but it isn’t yet time to start shooting the bastards. Rest assured though, there will be civil/race war in America within the next five years. So, pick a side!
PS: Please don’t beat me up, Tacy, pleeeeeeeease!!! I have never had a decrpit old coconut kick out one of my lungs and now I am very, very afraid. Damn you!!!!!
Viva La Revolucion Blanco!!
For once, Meadowlark and I agree… we need to get rid of this new batch of electoral Yugos and go to the scannable ballots Riley County was using prior to this election.The technology is even Kansas-based, with the ballots published and the readers manufactured in Atchison.
Mandatory voting won’t work until the voting system is changed. Not the way in which we vote, which could use some fixing, but the places, dates, and times. Not everyone can make it to the voting stations on the day and/or at the time allotted. For instance, a family with small children must sometimes go to extremes to find a way to stand in line for who knows how long, while someone else watches the little ones, and do this all within the framework of both parents working.
More people might vote if campaigning was limited to the issues, instead of the mud-slinging all candidates are so fond of. Don’t just tell me what Candidate A has or hasn’t done, tell me what YOU will do and how.