In many countries around the world individuals can choose to vote, or not to vote, as they see fit. In some countries (Australia, Switzerland and Singapore, for example) it is compulsory to vote in elections. The proposition in this debate must advocate some sort of punishment as an enforcement mechanism - a fine equivalent to about 100 US dollars is the norm. In some countries a no-vote box is available on the ballot paper, which can be crossed by those who do not wish to vote for any of the candidates standing.
The Argument For
In all democracies around the world voter apathy is highest among the poorest and most excluded sectors of society. Since they do not vote the political parties do not create policies for their needs, which leads to a vicious circle of increasing isolation. By making the most disenfranchised vote the major political parties are forced to take notice of them. An example of this is in the UK where the Labour party abandoned its core supporters to pursue ‘middle England’.
A high turnout is important for a proper democratic mandate and the functioning of democracy. In this sense voting is a civic duty like Jury service. Jury service is compulsory in order that the courts can function properly and is a strong precedent for making voting compulsory.The right to vote in a democracy has been fought for throughout modern history. In the last century alone the soldiers of numerous wars and the suffragettes of many countries fought and died for enfranchisement. We should respect their sacrifice by voting.
People who know they will have to vote will take politics more seriously and start to take a more active role.
Compulsory voting is effective. In Australia the turnouts are as high as 98%!
Postal and proxy voting is available for those who are otherwise busy. In addition, when Internet voting becomes available in a few years everyone will be able to vote from their own home.
The Argument Against
The idea is nonsense. Political parties do try and capture the ‘working-class’ vote. The labour party shifted to the right in the UK because no-one was voting for it; the majority of the population, from across the social spectrum, no longer believed in its socialist agenda and it altered its policies to be more in line with the majority of the population. Low turnout is best cured by more education, for example, civics classes could be introduced at school. In addition, the inclusion of these ‘less-interested’ voters will increase the influence of spin as presentation becomes more important. It will further trivialise politics and bury the issues under a pile of hype.
Just as fundamental as the right to vote in a democracy is the right not to vote. Every individual should be able to choose whether or not they want to vote. Some people are just not interested in politics and they should have the right to abstain from the political process. It can also be argued that it is right that voices of those who care enough about key issues to go and vote deserve to be heard above those who do not care so strongly. Any given election will function without an 100% turnout; a much smaller turnout will suffice. The same is not true of juries which do require an 100% turnout all of the time! However, we can take a more general view by noting that even in a healthy democracy it is not surprising people should not want to do jury service because of time it takes, therefore it is made compulsory. However, in a healthy democracy people should want to vote. If they are not voting it indicates there is a fundamental problem with that democracy; forcing people to vote cannot solve such a problem. It merely causes resentment.The failure to vote is a powerful statement, since it decreases turnout and that decreases a government’s mandate. By forcing those who do not want to vote to the ballot box, a government can make its mandate much larger than the people actually wish it to be. Those who fought for democracy fought for the right to vote not the compulsion to vote.
People who are forced to vote will not make a proper considered decision. At best they will vote randomly which disrupts the proper course of voting. At worst they will vote for extreme parties as happened in Australia recently.
The idea is not feasible. If a large proportion of the population decided not to vote it would impossible to make every non-voter pay the fine. If just 10% of the UK voters failed to do so the government would have to chase up about 4 million fines. Even if they sent demand letters to all these people, they could not take all those who refused to pay to court. Ironically, this measure hurts most those who the proposition are trying to enfranchise because they are least able to pay.
Many people don’t vote because they are busy and cannot take the time off. Making voting compulsory will not get these people to the ballot box if they are actually unable to do so.
I do think that making voting to be a compulsory activities, in which every person are required to do is one logical solution to increase peoples participation in an election. And since it has been implemented in Australia for the past few years it has shows its effectiveness. Yet for some, this method might be irrational since the liberty which supposed to be present in an election is no longer present, as people do not vote voluntarily: which essentially endangered the concept of democracy itself. In my personal opinion voting should be more convenient and as effortlessly as possible to access so people may vote without any objection to vote. This also eliminate any excuse where people would say that voting is too much of a fuss for them. Yet, at the end of the day some of us just doesn’t vote since the mechanism in which the candidate went through are not transparent enough.
ReplyDeleteI am against the motion of compulsory voting; the danger of uninformed voters rising and contributing to an election is perilous, hence the stability of the system onwards. Democratic system’s prominent criticism includes the ambiguous purpose of fair equalisation of advancing human capital by nations for its communes. Lack of education commences the uninformed voters to be stirred by the political climate—orchestrated by the higher echelons of politicians. Vast oppressions in austere, belligerent, and hector treatments arose during the diametrical change within the society, caused by the differentiation of political choices. I would argue that if voting becomes compulsory, the prudence in which it has been maintained before in a democratically implemented system of a nation will be imbalanced. If transparency and lack of participation is the argument, then the dispute should be referred to the policies in which the government applies to its citizens concerning human capital and how the government runs its elections.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, voting should be made compulsory in the democratic countries. Democracy is a form of nation that requires citizen to proactively participate in determining the future of the country. The core value of democracy is “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” and that value could only be well executed if all electorates are participating to, at least, choose what they think the best for them. Thus, the elected executive would finally meet what is demanded by the majority and the government could provide the real concern of the society based on the idea held by the candidates. Random voters are inevitable, and no legal bodies could supervise the mind of each people. This is when campaign hold an important role, which is to introduce and promote the vision and mission carried by each representative. Campaign creates awareness to the eligible voters, in hope of reducing random ballots.
ReplyDeleteVoting being a part of a tradition to democratic countries becomes a reliable tool to ensure that what everyone wants is to be fulfilled. The problem of thousands of interests from the citizens itself sometimes becomes the motivation of people to not vote for example, the people that they hoped to go up towards the voting ballots are not the ones that they hoped for so they choose to not vote. But this is the problem because at the end of the day, the one that they want have no chance to be voted for anyways because of eligibility and this can cause a conflict because then, they would stop being a good Samaritan from the fact that the leader that is chosen is not the one that they rooted for. At the end of the day, there is not cons towards having voting to be compulsory rather than a certain perspective can say that it violates the human rights value of having the right to pick, but it states the right to pick and not the right to not pick.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that voting shouldn’t be compulsory. Because although a country adopts a democracy system I don’t think they should force their people to vote if they don’t want to. Everyone have their own rights so they should be allowed not to vote. Another thing that I don’t disagree is how we pay respect to the soldiers that have fought in the war by voting, it just doesn’t make any sense to me, we are voting for the leader not for the soldiers right?. I agree with the arguments that said if there are a lot of people in a country that doesn’t vote then it indicates that there are problems within the country, I think this is also the same problem in Indonesia since if I’m not wrong there are lots of people that doesn’t vote in the last election in 2014. To end, I really hope that Indonesia doesn’t implement the same regulation as Australia did and I hope that people can still choose freely whether they want to vote or not?
ReplyDeleteVox Populi Vox Dei, "the voice of the people is the voice of God." In a democratic country, the people’s voice is the key pillar that upholds the power in charge of the nation. Voting on elections is a way to make that democracy happen. No matter the person’s background, socially or financially. Every citizen from every part of the group should feel like their voice counts. That’s why compulsory voting must be enforced in such system. The term ‘swing voters’ is used for the people who are eligible to vote that have not decide on who to vote yet. They are the people who are not in anyone’s stance, open to every candidate, and they would choose the ones who appeal to them the most. These voters may seem to vote randomly but their voices are as equal as important as anybody’s. I guess the main reason for compulsory voting is to have that equality for the people to determine how a country should be run, by choosing the people behind them with that responsibility to so.
ReplyDeleteFrom this article, I can conclude that this article is discussing whether voting for the government is compulsory or not. It happens in some country that make voting a compulsory, and some country dont make voting a compulsory thing. In my opinion, I will be more agree to make voting a compulsory thing. However, I don’t think that such fine is needed for people that don’t vote. Fine is not needed because who knows when the election happened, they that don’t vote is in a critical position that forced them not to vote, for example, they are sick, or happened to be in foreign country. Fine is not needed because it will make this voting a formality thing to do and not voluntarily. But, making this voting compulsory is a good thing because people need to know that this voting define their country’s future, and citizen is a part of a country that should contribute something to their country, at least as easy as make a vote.
ReplyDeleteIn a democratic system, the citizens are given a chance to give their opinion/thoughts. One of its forms is through the act of voting. Through voting, citizens are asked to show "what do you think? which one is better? which one do you choose". Democracy is not a system like authoritarian, where things are forced to be done. In Indonesia for example, if it makes voting compulsory, Indonesia is misinterpreting the meaning of democracy to a certain extent. For me, people are given the right to vote, but it is also their right to either vote or not. The government should respect their decision of voting or not voting. However, the government should emphasize how important 1 vote is. They need to show that every vote matters in determining the future of its country. By then, people are encouraged to vote out of their will, not because of it being "compulsory". In a democratic country, people should always be made available with choices. Nevertheless, I feel that people will take voting seriously if they are willing to do it, because if they are forced, they do not think about it and just pick randomly. Making it compulsory may be effective towards the numbers of votes, but will it be effective towards their choice?
ReplyDeleteEvery citizen in a country has a responsibility to contribute something to their country and at least always support their country. This also applies in making votings. In my opinion, voting is a compulsory thing to do for every citizen of the country. Because it is one of the duty as a citizen and we should be able to fulfill it. We have to give our vote and use our rights to determine the next leaders of our country. We are the one decide who will be the one rulling and operating our country, so why should we waste that chance to choose the best one? If we want to make our country better, we should give our vote to the one who we think could build our country. Do not think that our vote is useless, because if all people think like this, eventually everyone will not vote, and that is bad for our country. We should always do voting as long as we can make it because it define our country’s future.
ReplyDeleteIn democratic country people have right to choose what will happen to the country, this including who their leader will be. Usually to choose their leader people will vote and decide who will be their leader based by the number of vote. This system is really good system but there are people not voting in and use their right to choose. This problem make a discussion to make voting compulsory for citizen that meet the criteria to vote. I don’t really think this is a good idea to force people to vote their leader by threatening them by punishment. It do make more people vote but there are people who cant vote that day and people who don’t know anything about the candidate will choose randomly. Rather force people to vote we should rise people awareness how important vote is and help them by show them how to vote.
ReplyDeleteAs a citizen of a democratic country, I think voting should be made compulsory. After turning 18 and being eligible for voting, I realized the importance of taking a part in the election. I realize that participating in the election is the least I can do for my country, at the same time I also contribute to the evolution of my country. There are countless numbers of people who do not see democracy and election as something important, and choose to not take a part in the election. A question crosses my mind, “Why would these people want to live in the country, if they didn’t even want to choose their leader?” I think these people do not understand the importance of one vote. One vote does count, and it can change the final result. Citizens are given the right to choose for their own leader, and therefore should be used wisely and not waste it.
ReplyDeleteIn a democratic country like Indonesia, the nation is ruled by the government, but the people also controls how the nation would be like. In my opinion, voting is a compulsory thing to do, as it is one of the way for people to give their aspiration to the nation, as they want to build a better nation. Not voting is not the solution to a nation’s problem. If the people can’t choose their own leader, how could they make their country better? They need to choose their leader. They need to choose the right one for them, so they can work together with the government to make their nation better. If they don’t choose the right leader, they are leading their nation into a destruction. Also if voting is non-compulsory, the ‘rulers’ can make the nation like they wanted to be, as they think that people don’t care about who will be their next leader, and they can appoint someone who have the power and the money, but not the capabilites, to be the leader without any voting needed.
ReplyDeleteIn a democracy, every citizen has their own rights regarding who they want to vote for or whether they want to vote or not. However, there is a declining rate of voters, especially in Asia, that leads to a very serious concern. Voting hasn’t been compulsory in Indonesia, therefore I have the feeling that not everybody feels the need or knows the importance of voting. This is because apatism has eaten through a lot of youngster’s souls, in their mind, voting is not important because they couldn’t care less about the politics and they think that their vote has no influence on the final result. In elections, every voice counts and every vote can make a difference in terms of the future of the country. We are the one who decide who will be the rulers for the next four or five years, and that is why I strongly agree with the government when they force their citizens to vote since it will make them think that it is their obligations to decide the future of the country, therefore making them think before they vote and make them vote wholeheartedly and rationally.
ReplyDeleteThe right to vote is one of the most important rights of a citizen in a democracy as it shows that everyone has the right to express their opinion and that their opinion will be taken into account. But not voting is also a right which shows that someone prefers not to choose. Therefore, I believe that voting should stay a right and not become an obligation. However, I think that people should be encouraged to vote without making it compulsory. If they don’t want to choose any of the candidates presented, people can put a blank ballot paper in the ballot box, which I think would be more effective than not voting as this will show their disagreement with the options offered. But, if some people are really not interested in politics and don’t care about the result of the elections then they should be able not to vote instead of being forced to vote and choose randomly.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think they should not make voting compulsory because some people that are not that keen about politics are not sure or maybe they do not understand how it works. I consider myself someone who does not involve in any political activities in any shape or form because I do not really care, it does not bother me at all, I go with whoever or in Indonesian term "golput" which basically means you do not vote and instead you just go with whoever wins. However I do agree that people should encourage others to vote because its for the future, we should vote who we think is the right candidate to be the next leader. The people decide who runs for president for example, people have the power to determine who their next leader will be, the upcoming Presidential election in 2019 in Indonesia is going to be big one because we are going to see who people think is suitable to be in the position to lead the country.
ReplyDeleteThe dynamics of democracy has varied if seen from the perspective that it is implemented differently from one country or region to another. And for that reason it is only wise that we teach the community around us about the importance of voting and the major effects that it has on themselves, the country and the future that it can provide for them. In my personal opinion while it is very important for us to vote, we should make voting compulsory within its practice. Because from my point of view it is still the right of every individual to choose whether they would like to use their vote or not in any democratic occasion. Another point of view would be that not everybody within a certain democratic society do not actually understand how politics work and the mass effects of it. But it is also important for us to be proactive as we live in a democratic society and we should show our appreciation by participating.
ReplyDeleteI think voting is a civil rights and it is up to the people whether to vote or not. But, it would be better to go to the voting ballots and participate. Choose the candidate that you like. But, if you do not like any of the candidates, just make your vote invalid. Because if you do not participate in the voting process, there is a risk that your vote right is being used by unresponsible party that support one of the competing candidate. Setting a no vote box would be the best solution to this issue. Many Indonesians feel betrayed by the Indonesia politics that full of corruption and injustice. There are also some politically aware Indonesian that thinks that the candidates running for office are bad and they decided to choose the lesser of two evils. These kind of issues are making the voting system in Indonesia undemocratic. By setting a no vote box, people could fully convey their aspirations when the candidates running for office are unsuitable.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see different opinions in this article since voting is a mainstream way of making huge, complicated decisions from a big sample that wants to voice their thoughts and needs. Voting should be made compulsory for several reasons; there are lots of decisions needed to be made in this world that should to be treated equally and fair, and by making it compulsory to vote, people choose based on what they want so when a system works not the way they expect it to, they’re the ones to blame themselves. It is also better to have a bigger sample since it gives the system a better data spread. However, creating a mandatory voting system can go horribly wrong as well. For instance, to make it easy to picture, the UGM FEB Management voting event for the chairman position as well as CEOs of events whatsoever was just held a few days ago earlier in this week. For students like me who are blind as to what’s going on around university with all these different events and organisations that I’m only aware of to some, I find it confusing to vote on certain things as I have no clue what I’m voting for. Therefore, the vote, the decision I choose goes towards any random person my head wants to vote which makes the voting system ineffective.
ReplyDeleteIn democracy system the involvement of each and every member of the group in this case nation is the essence of this structure, meaning that every step taken are based on the collective agreement and all of the individuals involved agreed in one majority decision. By making voting as a compulsory it decreases the possibility of a little number of participation in the democracy itself, which might be a source of future conflict. Yet even though we make it compulsory, it will not be beneficial for the country if the people who used to be not participating in the voting process have a little literacy or knowledge about it, so socialising it to the public is a good thing to do before we make it as a compulsory action. However, by making it compulsory also have a negative side if there are no socialisation about it before, the rate of voting will increase yet they will choose the candidates without knowing about anything beforehand which can make a future conflict within the nation and can build the tension between one’s supporter and another.
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