Democracy is a foundation of a country’s success. The idea of mandatory voting goes against the democracy of the United States. Mandatory voting is a violation of our civil rights that might become a law in the United States. Although many believe that mandatory voting helps to strengthen a democratic government by increasing the number of voters, mandatory voting violates people’s freedom of choice in the United States. Mandatory voting is the government’s oppression to its citizens. Force people to vote takes away their individual rights. The democratic country will not be democracy anymore by taking away citizens’ rights.
According to Sen Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, said on Fox News, no voting is also a legitimate choice that some people make”(Sherfinski). In the United States, It is every individual’s freedom to make a choice to choose vote or not. “The right to speak, which is protected under the First amendment, includes the right not to speak. And there is no question that we are speaking when we make our choices in the ballot booth. When we don’t vote, we are again making a choice, a choice not to speak that also sends a political message”(spakovsky).
It is a legitimate choice for each of us to decide what is our best decision during an election. There is no right or wrong when we choose to vote or not vote. Mandatory voting is an unconstitutional force by government in the United States. If the federal government passed the law to force American people to vote, then the political policies of the United States would certainly changed from democratic politics to dictatorial politics.
Mandatory voting would increases the number of runout voters, but it would not lead to a high quality government in the United States. When the uninformed and ninterested people are forced to vote, the quality of their vote is questionable. ““Social scientist have shown that higher quality government tends came high turnout. But high turnout does not cause higher quality government”(Gonchar). The rising amount of runout voters does not means a promotion of the government. “An associate professor of ethics, economics and public policy at Georgetown University who agrees, if we force everyone to vote, the electorate will become even more irrational and misinformed”(Gonchar).
There are many nonvoters do not participate in the political era of voting. People who usually wouldn’t vote because they are uneducated or uninterested will flock to the polls to avoid legal issues” (Redlingshafer). The policy of mandatory voting would just make people to vote for what they don’t really care about or interested. Thus, the government should have a better way for the government to encourage people to vote, but not by forcing. Press people to vote is a worse way that the government might take in the future. While, opponents believe that mandatory voting should be adopted in the United States because it is a good way to save money and make the election system to become much democratic.
The president Obama have stated that mandatory voting can enhance the government of the United States, solve the low runout voting and money issue. According to Brody, president Barack Obama on Wednesday suggested the U. S. should make voting mandatory as what Australia has done. The president said, “If everybody vote, then it would completely change the political map in this country,” and it would counteract money more than anything”(Brody). However, mandatory voting might promoting the amount of runout voting in the United States and counteract money for the government in a long-term period.
But, the issue of saving money will not be solve through a long term view of the new politic in the United States. In fact, mandatory voting will more likely increases the amount of money that might be spent on campaigning. “Mandatory voting would eliminate the need for spending on get-out-the-vote efforts, but it would make targeting voters even more essential. Political parties would have a need and an incentive to spend millions—perhaps even billions—more on campaigns since they would need to reach millions of additional, low-information voters”(Carter).
Therefore, mandatory voting does not only rises the money that the political parties might spent on the election, but also brings more new political problems to the society. Additionally, mandatory voting does not change the political map into a good way. For instance, you can force a voter to vote, but you can’t make him to be really in the political system of election as you wish. ““Many people choose not to vote because they are disengaged from or apathetic about politics.
There is no evidence that requiring people to vote provides sufficient incentive for them to gain the information necessary to cast an informed ballot”(Carter). Mandatory voting is not only a requirement that the government might take to overcontrol citizens’ freedom, but also a worse way to require these who doesn’t want to make a choice in the election. As a long-term goal, mandatory voting should not be adopted in the United States because it can not benefit the United States in a general way. In society, a democratic government will always protect its citizens’ rights.
Voting is a personal choice made by every individuals. Mandatory voting is a wrong way to solve the poor turnout and money issue in the United States. Voting is a right, not a duty. The government should not force citizens to vote by taking their rights on elections. It is an undemocratic enforcement of politic that restrict individual’s freedom. If we force every individuals to participate into the voting system, then the country will not be democratic anymore. When the day comes, the United States might become a communist country that is under control by government.