Mandatory Voting

[SkyChief]

Do you typically read the columns by Mark Barabak? Do you read the L.A. Times on a daily basis?

I do not read the L.A Times on a daily basis.

If so, how the heck do you come to the conclusion that Barabak is a marxist? Or that LAT follows a marxist line?

Anyone who thinks that that government should have the power to coerce someone into doing something against their wishes is the essence of Big-Government Marxism.

"strengthen Democracy and make America's politics less awful."

"no lame excuses"

These are subversive, totalitarian ideas. No American should be forced to do anything against their wishes.

America was founded on principles of the citizen's liberty and freedom - - not submission to a totalitarian State.

Shame on anyone who would support forcing people to do something against their wishes.

 

[j brown's body]

I do not read the L.A Times on a daily basis.

Anyone who thinks that that government should have the power to coerce someone into doing something against their wishes is the essence of Big-Government Marxism.

"strengthen Democracy and make America's politics less awful."

"no lame excuses"

These are subversive, totalitarian ideas. No American should be forced to do anything against their wishes.

America was founded on principles of the citizen's liberty and freedom - - not submission to a totalitarian State.

Shame on anyone who would support forcing people to do something against their wishes.

The fine could be nominal. Or not at all.

The government setting it to assure that everyone who wants to can, and encourages people with easy access would be terrific in and of itself.

 

[TheParser]

Oh, yes!

Because if everyone were checked on to see whether s/he had voted as required by law, that might go a long way to prevent vote rigging.

In other words, the government would have the name and address of every single voter and could easily determine whether s/he had voted or not.

 

[Nomad4Ever]

Punish? No. Automatically enrolled in voting? Yes.

 

[venice_ca]

I do not read the L.A Times on a daily basis.

Anyone who thinks that that government should have the power to coerce someone into doing something against their wishes is the essence of Big-Government Marxism.

So Barabak, on the basis of one article, out of the many that have appeared in the LAT, is a full-blown marxist, according to you, and not a man who happened to endorse one idea that you believe to be marxist.

Governments, federal, state, and local, have requirements that require all of us to follow or face consequences.

 

[Gateman_Wen]

An L.A. Times columnist talks about an idea to make voting in the U.S. mandatory from local elections to Prez to "strengthen our democracy" & fine those who don't vote.

Column: What if every American were required — by law — to vote?

Proponents of mandatory voting say it would strengthen democracy and make America's politics less awful.

www.latimes.com

My answer: No.

The ability to vote is a right, but people also have the right not to participate.

 

[SkyChief]

So Barabak, on the basis of one article, out of the many that have appeared in the LAT, is a full-blown marxist, according to you, and not a man who happened to endorse one idea that you believe to be marxist.

Governments, federal, state, and local, have requirements that require all of us to follow or face consequences.

Presumably, Barabak endorses the mandatory voting idea, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the time to research it for his column.

But just writing an article about an idiotic idea doesn't make Barabak a Marxist - I'll concede that.

Still, mandatory voting is a stupid idea and has ZERO chance of ever getting passed. Fortunately, most Americans are smarter than that and would never tolerate such nonsense.

Shame on those two nincompoops (WaPo columnist Dionne and Rapoport) who floated it. They should be shunned.

 

[Antiwar]

Hell no. 'They' want us to further legitimize their bull political systems. Maybe this person thinks it'd be a good thing for Democrats to be the only dominant party. The Republican Party should be gone, but we'd need at least one more viable political party.

 

[AGENT J]

An L.A. Times columnist talks about an idea to make voting in the U.S. mandatory from local elections to Prez to "strengthen our democracy" & fine those who don't vote.

Column: What if every American were required — by law — to vote?

Proponents of mandatory voting say it would strengthen democracy and make America's politics less awful.

www.latimes.com

My answer: No.

The ability to vote is a right, but people also have the right not to participate.

No

We should do the following though

Voting should be a holiday, now of course that affects different industries in different ways but in general, it should be a holiday and it should be a law people are allowed to leave work and vote. (some states have this already)

Next all states should have a system similar to Colorado and minimum standards for voting
all citizens should be able to do mail in voting and options for early voting and absentee voting should exist.
all states should be a form of open voting, no restrictions based on your party
and like the majority of the country im totally fine with voter ID as long as its NORMAL voter I and. not voter suppression. As long as its all the acceptable IDs that the FED already accepts and one is made free and readily available including at your polling place im on board.

 

[Bullseye]

An L.A. Times columnist talks about an idea to make voting in the U.S. mandatory from local elections to Prez to "strengthen our democracy" & fine those who don't vote.

Column: What if every American were required — by law — to vote?

Proponents of mandatory voting say it would strengthen democracy and make America's politics less awful.

www.latimes.com

My answer: No.

The ability to vote is a right, but people also have the right not to participate.

And they say Dems are not Fascists. Don't authoritarian/totalitarian countries usually have 99% voter turnout?

 

[Court Jester]

Do you typically read the columns by Mark Barabak? Do you read the L.A. Times on a daily basis?

If so, how the heck do you come to the conclusion that Barabak is a marxist? Or that LAT follows a marxist line?

ROTFLMAO!

Seriously? You are not aware the the L.A. Times is a far left radical newspaper.

You really have been drinking L.A. water for too long, haven't you?

 

[Bum]

An L.A. Times columnist talks about an idea to make voting in the U.S. mandatory from local elections to Prez to "strengthen our democracy" & fine those who don't vote.

Column: What if every American were required — by law — to vote?

Proponents of mandatory voting say it would strengthen democracy and make America's politics less awful.

www.latimes.com

My answer: No.

The ability to vote is a right, but people also have the right not to participate.

I would support it as long as "abstain" is a voting choice.

 

[Helix]

Australia has it. I don't believe they are a dictatorship.

They gave us the secret ballot.

It wouldn't happen that way here. There are only two sides, and one of them would have to present the idea. The propaganda machine would turn it into a profitable wedge issue and stir up fury over it.

 

[Emily L]

It's almost funny, but after making my selection in the OP, I had to click the button that says "Vote." It was a requirement.

 

[HIP56948]

As an (also) Australian citizen, I'm used to mandatory voting. Did it for many years. Didn't think of it as a big deal.
Having said that, the ol' proverb still is true..When in Rome, do as .....

 

[Gatsby]

Nah. If someone doesn't think their vote will contribute anything meaningful to society, they're probably right. And I don't mean that in a snarky way. Some people just aren't interested in politics, and correctly conclude that they probably aren't as well-informed as other voters. And that's fine! I would rather have them opt out, than dilute the votes of people who actually care.

 

[j brown's body]

Nah. If someone doesn't think their vote will contribute anything meaningful to society, they're probably right. And I don't mean that in a snarky way. Some people just aren't interested in politics, and correctly conclude that they probably aren't as well-informed as other voters. And that's fine! I would rather have them opt out, than dilute the votes of people who actually care.

That might have to do with the eve-growing number of barriers to voting. After all, we have citizens who aren't even allowed to vote.

A nation simply committed to encouraging everyone to vote and making it easier for them to vote would be a vast improvement over what we have now. The legitimacy of a democratic government relies on the consent of the people. We should attempt to live up to that belief.

I think we can agree that an avid voter is not neccesarily a more informed voter. Conversely, I suggest that a non-voter isn't necessarily less informed.

 

[j brown's body]

As an (also) Australian citizen, I'm used to mandatory voting. Did it for many years. Didn't think of it as a big deal.
Having said that, the ol' proverb still is true..When in Rome, do as .....

Did you have to wait in line for hours?

 

[j brown's body]

And they say Dems are not Fascists. Don't authoritarian/totalitarian countries usually have 99% voter turnout?

The turnout isn't the problem. If it's even real.

 

[j brown's body]

No

We should do the following though

Voting should be a holiday, now of course that affects different industries in different ways but in general, it should be a holiday and it should be a law people are allowed to leave work and vote. (some states have this already)

Next all states should have a system similar to Colorado and minimum standards for voting
all citizens should be able to do mail in voting and options for early voting and absentee voting should exist.
all states should be a form of open voting, no restrictions based on your party
and like the majority of the country im totally fine with voter ID as long as its NORMAL voter I and. not voter suppression. As long as its all the acceptable IDs that the FED already accepts and one is made free and readily available including at your polling place im on board.

People work too much anyway.

 

[Gatsby]

That might have to do with the eve-growing number of barriers to voting. After all, we have citizens who aren't even allowed to vote.

We can make voting more universally accessible without making it mandatory. Those are separate issues.

A nation simply committed to encouraging everyone to vote and making it easier for them to vote would be a vast improvement over what we have now. The legitimacy of a democratic government relies on the consent of the people. We should attempt to live up to that belief.

I think we can agree that an avid voter is not neccesarily a more informed voter. Conversely, I suggest that a non-voter isn't necessarily less informed.

It seems to me that if someone opts out of voting because *they* don't think they are informed, then the rest of us shouldn't be second-guessing their self-assessment. They are probably right.

 

[noonereal]

An L.A. Times columnist talks about an idea to make voting in the U.S. mandatory from local elections to Prez to "strengthen our democracy" & fine those who don't vote.

Column: What if every American were required — by law — to vote?

Proponents of mandatory voting say it would strengthen democracy and make America's politics less awful.

www.latimes.com

My answer: No.

The ability to vote is a right, but people also have the right not to participate.

People are so stupid it simply does not matter.

 

[j brown's body]

We can make voting more universally accessible without making it mandatory. Those are separate issues.


It seems to me that if someone opts out of voting because *they* don't think they are informed, then the rest of us shouldn't be second-guessing their self-assessment. They are probably right.

They aren't really separate issues because to make it mandatory, the government would have to make it more accessible. For instance, in Australia, wherevthey have mandatory voting, election day is a national holiday.

Worried about uninformed voters? 74,000,000 votes for Donald Trump suggests to me that that ship has sailed. Even then you are assuming that is why most people don't vote. That might not be the case.

 

[Bullseye]

The turnout isn't the problem. If it's even real.

You're catching on.

 

[j brown's body]

You're catching on.

How so?