Voting is compulsory in my country. Do you think it should be compulsory in a Democracy to vote?

Question

You get fined in Australia for not voting and if you don't pay the fine technically you can be jailed for not voting.

hyperion_monk, we just have to get our names marked off the voting role on election day, what we do with the ballot is up to the voter as long as it goes into the ballot box

Answer 1

ACTUALLY.... I am of the opposite opinion.

I believe that all citizens "should" vote. However, said voter must actually "know" what the &^% they are doing.

A good requirement, 1 hr weekly of CSPAN before being allowed to register to vote. At least you would have SOME idea of what was actually going on in our country.

I have a constitutional right to "bear arms". But I also have a duty to my fellow citizens, to operate it safely....An uninformed voter is like a loaded gun in the hands of a 4 year old....very &^% dangerous

Answer 2

I don't believe voting should be compulsory. To me, that represents a form of involuntary servitude...granted, voting doesn't take that much effort, but the government is still requiring someone to do something against their will.

I believe that people have just as much of a right to opt out of the political process as they do to participate in it. If a person chooses not to support any candidate, or if they don't want to participate in democracy at all, the government should force them to wait at a polling center and then throw their ballot away.

Answer 3

No but if a party used tricks to stop voters from exercising their rights as the Repukes did in the USA in 2000 AND 2004, it should be treated as a serious crime, and the nominal head of the campaign, the candidate, should have a burden of proof that s/he is not responsible for the electoral crime. Down with Dictator Dumbya!!!

Answer 4

It would lead to too much random voting.

Not to mention even more manipulable than our voting already is (yank, here).

It should be people's choice whether to vote or not (though you should NOT complain if you don't vote).

But given the general level of ignorance and really poor thinking, I'd rather continue to leave it up to people to decide for themselves whether to vote.

I'd love to see voter turn-out improve, but not by force -- because people wanted to and understood its value.

Answer 5

I'm confused now. Bush keeps saying "we are spreading Democracy" on what ? Toast?

if Australia is not a democracy then we must be the only one. so what the heck are we spreading?

p.s. when your vote doesn't count, it doesn't matter if your made to do it or not. A majority of this country is tired of Bush's lies and deceptions, but the handful of loyal Bushbots continue to tell us WE'RE wrong.

sorry. this is not a Democracy. but soon.

Answer 6

Freedom

Answer 7

defiantly not. we have freedom of speech, and freedom of choice. the government should not be able to dictate to anyone as to their choice to vote or not. i personally do but its very much up to the individual one things for sure if it ever happened here in the UK there would be a lot of fines handed out to people after the European parliament votes, as no one can be bothered with it

Answer 8

Maybe.
If you were allowed to mark your ballot as"no vote" or something
of that nature,I would find that acceptable.Do you have that option?

Answer 9

No. What if you dislike all the candidates running and believe your government is corrupt to its core and wish to express this by not voting? What if you really don't care?

Isn't silence covered by freedom of speech?

Answer 10

Compulsory voting does not allow for a "no-confidence" vote, and is therefore not truly a choice. Australia is under a de-facto oligarchical dictatorship. Welcome to the rest of the world. :)