What would be the benefits of mandatory voting in Presidential elections in the United States?

Mandatory voting, on its face, seems to be an overall negative. Its cons are several. 1.

Criminalizing people who may have had valid reasons for not voting, putting them in the position of having to justify why they could not vote. 2. Forcing people who may not be able to afford it to take time off from work, and pay for transportation to their polling station.3.

Forcing people to vote does not also mean forcing them to vote thoughtfully. People cannot be forced to educate themselves on the issues and the different candidates' views. The result would be to further dilute the already limited educated vote.

However, if done with some thought, there could potentially be some benefits too. If a secure system can be put in place that allows voters to vote by phone or computer, for example, that would drastically reduce the time and financial costs of voting. Allowing people to vote "none of the candidates fit my political beliefs" and/or "I don't know enough to choose the best candidate" could also reduce the impact of uneducated voting.

If done with great thought and care, the following pros may emerge. 1. Inducing voting by people who know who they'd like to win, but have "better things to do" than vote, or who think that their vote doesn't make a difference because it's only one out of tens or hundreds of millions.2.

Getting more people interested in making an informed choice, thereby increasing the public's engagement in the political process over time.3. Provide feedback to the political system as to just what fraction don't like any of the choices, and what fraction doesn't care enough to educate themselves. This information may motivate the powers that be to engage in more outreach to educate voters on issues and policies.

There are no benefits to mandatory voting. The people that already care enough to put some thought into it will still put thought into it and choose the candidate they think will do the best job. The rest will not put any effort into the process, vote for the person with the coolest last name, and screw things up.

Then we'll up with elected officials with cool last names that don't pay their own taxes and are morally bankrupt. Wait, that's pretty much what we have now. I'm changing my mind - bring on mandatory voting.

Australia is a very interesting test case here, as they do have mandatory voting and you can draw some comparisons. Some benefits include: -Resources aren't wasted by political parties trying to get people to the polls. It's the law.

-You make sure everyone is represented However the costs likely outweigh the benefits. It is a policy opposed by the majority of Americans, so it would be undemocratic to enact in the first place. It might dumb down election campaigns, since now unwilling and uneducated voters would be going to the polls.

slate.com/id/2108832.

Mandatory voting removes the notion of civic responsibility. It transforms a voluntary sense of duty into something cold and mandated. Obviously voter turnout would increase dramatically, but it would also remove the need for politicians to stay connected to the people, to listen to their true wishes.

I would fear the vote of a person that is indifferent and totally uninformed on his/her choices, than that of a person that is ideologically opposed to my views. In the latter case I at least know that the person is voting with their heart, based on a solid opinion for what they think is best in a society we both share. In the former, it is just a fool doing something for which he/she cares nothing about.

I'm not sure there are any benefits of mandatory voting. There are already plenty of people (some I know personally) that I don't think should be allowed to vote in the first place. I know that in nursing homes, for example, that most of the voting is done for the people that can't actually vote or have no clue who's even running for President.It is a right and I'm not saying I should be in charge of selecting who can vote, but if you don't know anything about any current event and haven't even read a newspaper in a decade, maybe you shouldn't be allowed that privilege.

Just voting because you can, or if you go in just to fill in the ovals and get an "I voted" sticker than you're not really being helpful, in my opinion. Picking a candidate, any candidate that you believe in and support for whatever reason, is.So forcing people to vote will only result in millions more ballots with things like Mickey Mouse and Elvis penciled in. I don't think there is a benefit.

Making it mandatory would probably be the best way to communicate with politicians. Way better than not voting at all. I am for "not voting" when I feel that I am not worthily represented by candidates.In any case not voting is democracy too.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.