Because it’s a terrible idea? Elections are already heavily weighted towards name recognition. What are people who can’t even be bothered to go out to vote going to offer to the process?
The alternative is voter suppression, which leads to unequal access. Also, given that more passionate individuals are gonna seek out a ballot vs. others, the result is going to be skewed in favor of those passionate people regardless of their understanding of reality or truthfullness.
It forces politics to the centre. Parties put a huge amount of effort into ‘bringing out the vote’, and do things to appeal to the fringe which is how you get characters like Trump finding success. When this isn’t a concern, parties can focus on policies that appeal to the majority of people rather than fringe groups that they can use to guarantee voter turnout.
Because it’s a terrible idea? Elections are already heavily weighted towards name recognition. What are people who can’t even be bothered to go out to vote going to offer to the process?
That’s true, you can require them to vote, but you can’t require them to be informed.
That’s a very good argument.
Bad news though. Almost none of today’s voters are properly informed either.
I’m pretty sure in Australia you can just turn in a blank ballot. But yeah, compulsory voting is kind of odd.
It’s the simplest solution to fight voter disenfranchisement. It stops parties from trying to play that particular stupid game.
The alternative is voter suppression, which leads to unequal access. Also, given that more passionate individuals are gonna seek out a ballot vs. others, the result is going to be skewed in favor of those passionate people regardless of their understanding of reality or truthfullness.
We get the option to vote by mail for free weeks in advance.
You don’t even have to get off your fat arse.
It forces politics to the centre. Parties put a huge amount of effort into ‘bringing out the vote’, and do things to appeal to the fringe which is how you get characters like Trump finding success. When this isn’t a concern, parties can focus on policies that appeal to the majority of people rather than fringe groups that they can use to guarantee voter turnout.