Mandatory Voting Essays

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Chrissy Hembrook, Jordan Pasbrig, Nyjia Williams, and Morgan Zygmunt
APPSE
Mateske Nationalment Former United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote, except the American people themselves, and the only way they could do this is by not voting”. While we agree that civic engagement, in the form of voting, is essential, as a Unit we disagree upon whether or not the US government should make voting mandatory in the federal primary and general elections.
[J/C]. My colleague ______ and I believe that voting is imperative to representation of the people in the government, and due to the current circumstances should be enacted in federal primary and general elections because of the low voter turnout, potential tyranny of the minority, a feasible expansion of civic education, and a decreased possibility of voter fraud.
According to the Washington Post, voter turnout in the 2014 midterm elections was the lowest turnout rate since WWII. Only 36.4% of eligible voters casted a ballot. In an American democracy, the function of voting is to provide representation for all people. If all demographics of people were equally represented in the small percentage of American people who vote, mandatory voting would not be necessary. Low voter turnout creates a non reflective government solely based on the views of the minority of Americans who vote, which causes tyranny of the minority. These limited views of the minority that votes are the only ones being expressed in government. Not only could mandatory voting decrease the possibility of tyranny of the minority, it could also increase the drive for civic education and awareness among American voter. If voting

became mandatory, rather than casting an abstention ballot, it could be argued that voters would be more inclined to educate themselves on current political ideas, and therefore would cast a more informed vote. With this new generation of voters, our current voting system would require an update. Although some could argue that our system could use an update now, with mandatory voting that want becomes a need. This update would include a purging of the voter registration list, removing deceased and relocated voters. If voting became mandatory, the new voter registration list could be updated semi­annually, decreasing the likelihood of voter fraud.
Compulsory voting is a viable solution for the many problems facing the American voting system today.
[M/N] Although mandatory voting seems like a viable solution to these issues, the system would be problematic when implemented. My colleague, ____, and I believe that implementing compulsory voting would infringe upon American freedoms and would be logistically impractical. If citizens have the right to vote, then they also have the right to abstain from voting.
[insert quote from vip]. Compulsory voting goes against the principles the founders intended for this great nation. Voting should be a voluntary act of patriotism, not an obligation or an inconvenience. For some citizens, getting to the polls on election day disrupts their daily routine.
Working class Americans may not have the time or the means to cast a vote in the time allotted.
For others, simply finding transportation to the polls is next to impossible. Given these reasons,
enforcing
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