Mandatory Voting Research Paper

Words: 838
Pages: 4

Albert Einstein said, “Force always attracts low minded men.” Each time citizens are compelled, by law, to do something they lose a little bit of freedom. Peter Barry states that “People have to be persuaded of the importance of voting to the democratic process. Yet compelling people to do so subverts our democratic rights. Democracy is about freedom; it is the antithesis of compulsion.” Mandatory voting raises a question we shouldn’t even be asking, whether voting is a civil right or a civic duty. Forced election is not only a violation of human rights, it is an illusion of agreement, doesn’t truly reflect the voice of the people and would not likely change the results only increases government control. At this time in history voting independence is practiced by the majority of the free world and allows people to choose their …show more content…
For example, if a teacher asks their students what they want for lunch and gives them the choice of spinach puree and liver pate and forces them to choose, an illusion that they agree to eat their choice is created. Only the right not to vote protects from this type of agreement. Some people are no longer voting because they agree with Wendy McElroy when she said “voting is not an act of political freedom. It is an act of political conformity. Those who refuse to vote are not expressing silence. They are screaming in the politician's ear: 'You do not represent me. This is not a process in which my voice matters. I do not believe you.” In some countries, like the United States, you are allowed to write in a nominee which means you have an infinite amount of choices. Many people don’t believe that votes outside of major party lines do not count but, as Ezra Taft Benson, a United States Secretary of Agriculture said “If you vote for the lesser of two evils, you are still voting for