Free Republic

A state lawmaker from Manhattan wants to make it costly for New Yorkers not to vote. Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, a Democrat, introduced legislation this week that would establish “compulsory voting” in the state and punish those who don’t vote with a $10 fine. “Mandatory voting would drastically increase civic participation and transform the political arena by making politicians more reflective of the constituents that elected them,” Glick wrote in a memo submitted with the bill. Under Glick’s bill, any eligible voter who fails to vote would be hit with the $10 fine unless they have a “valid excuse” why they...

(CNSNews.com) - Speaking at the University of Chicago Law School yesterday, President Barack Obama criticized what he described as the difficulty of voting in the United States of America. “We really are the only advanced democracy on Earth that systematically and purposely makes it really hard for people to vote,” he said. “Maybe the single biggest change that we could make in our political process that would reduce some of the polarization, make people feel more invested, restore integrity to the system, would be just make sure everybody is voting,” said Obama. “Australia has got mandatory voting. You start getting...

I spent polling day in this year's presidential election in Seattle and I observed one gargantuan difference between elections in my country, Australia, and those of yours -- compulsory voting. Compulsory voting forces people to engage with their democracy -- maybe the United States should try a dose. Since 1924, Australians have had to turn up at a polling place on Election Day and have their names recorded against the electoral roll. More than 95 percent of Australians pick up their ballot papers and vote in the election, whether it is for a state or national election. If you don't...

I spent polling day in this year's presidential election in Seattle and I observed one gargantuan difference between elections in my country, Australia, and those of yours -- compulsory voting. Compulsory voting forces people to engage with their democracy -- maybe the United States should try a dose. Since 1924, Australians have had to turn up at a polling place on Election Day and have their names recorded against the electoral roll. More than 95 percent of Australians pick up their ballot papers and vote in the election, whether it is for a state or national election. If you don't...