Recently, President Obama said that he would be in favor of mandatory election voting. He cited Australia as already having implemented such legislation. After each election, the AEC (Australian Electoral Committee) will send a letter to all apparent non-voters requesting that they either provide a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote or pay a $20 penalty, according to aec.gov.
“People who tend not to vote are young, lower income, and skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups,” said President Obama.
Let us assume the U.S. adopted this policy and issued the same penalty as Australia. The people who typically do not vote (as stated by the President above) are lower-income persons. With the Australian policy in place we would effectively be taking money away from people who already have to scrap for every dollar.
“It’s ridiculous,” says Katie Boyd Customer Service Agent for Minnesota’s GOP.
Voting influences the direction of your state and it is a privilege. If you don’t follow the candidates and you aren’t informed, why would you vote?
Nancy Larson, Chair of the 7th Congressional District, says just that when asked about compulsory voting. “I’m against that. Why try and get people who know nothing to the polls?”
Many seem to think the President should have kept this idea to himself, and those people come from both sides of the aisle.