You obviously have been in the US a while, so how do you see it in comparison to AUS, where voting is mandatory? In my opinion, it should be mandatory, otherwise it is far easier to swing votes one way or another.
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
FYI, I'm back in Aus now. I didn't want my tax dollars funding Trump's ICE and I couldn't trust that he wouldn't blow up my work visa overnight.
I agree that it should be mandatory and I think it would change everything in the US.
With voluntary voting, politicians have to appeal to the highly motivated loud minorities because they're the ones that show up. With mandatory voting, politicians appeal to the centrist majority.
The US also needs a non-partisan (and non-corruptible) Electoral Commission like Australia's AEC to properly referee elections. Republicans often shut down voting booths in areas that would vote against them, so richer people spend 5 minutes voting but poorer people might have to stay in line 8,9 maybe 14 hours to vote, on a workday.
The US has an extremely religious component that is a really strong voter block that holds a lot of power, I think mandatory voting would dramatically reduce that power.
Yeah, this is a problem.
Yes, it is pathetic. And voting on a workday, how idiotic... Mandatory means that it is in everyone's best interest to make it as easy as possible.