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Voting Should be Mandatory: Changing to the Compulsory Voting System

By: Chardae Reeves

In Americas most recent election I have seen tons of protest/rallies occur around the

country. I asked myself, why has there been so many protest? Why are people so mad?

Especially the ones who didnt go out and vote. Maybe because our new president elect is a

racist, ignorant, and narcissistic idiot. I guess that is more than enough reason to protest against

his presidency. Another question I ask, is how did we let someone so worse-some run our

beloved free country?

It all comes down to our right to vote. Voting is such an important right that a lot of

people do not exercise. Citizens may take their right to vote for granted, but it wasnt truly that

long ago when entire swaths of the populations like women- were denied that right (Marans &

Bellware 2016). I think that if you dont go out to vote then you do not have the right to

complain. Over 231 million American are eligible to vote. However, based on early results from

the 2016 presidential election, just over 130 million of them voted for Hillary Clinton or Donald

Trump (Levine 2017). This means that between 40 percent and 60 percent of registered voters

did not vote. Not to mention, in the most previous election the United States had the 9th lowest

voting rate out of 35 countries. Our voting turn out is horrible. Voting is so important because it

paves the way for our future generations. It is important because it is our right to vote. It is our

life, our community, and more importantly it is our job to vote. I believe that if we enforce the

compulsory voting system within our government we will see a better turn out in votes and we

would be able to see just how powerful everyone coming to together can be. We tend to forget
that democracy means people-power. It is up to us to change something in our government if

we do not like it.

The compulsory voting system refers to registered voters being obliged to vote, meaning

that voting is absolutely mandatory for everyone. If a registered voter does not appear at the polls

to vote then they are supposed to pay a fine or do some type of community service within their

community. This voting system has been enforced in countries such as, Argentina, Australia,

Belgium, Brazil, Ecuador, and the list goes on and on. Compulsory voting has so many pros to it.

For example, Parties and electoral agencies dont have to spend money and time to get people to

vote, and can focus on talking about the issues (Pros and Cons of Mandatory Voting). This will

lead to more improved awareness of issues around the world. People will actually know the

knowledge of what candidates are actually trying to do in our country. It can improve

representation of marginalized populations who are historically less likely to vote and who have

less access to the political process (Pros and Cons of Mandatory Voting). Now this would be

amazing for the United States to adopt because every voice would be heard.
I understand that some might say that voting is a right not a duty; but in reality voting is

actually a civic duty and it should be enforced. When it comes to enforcing compulsory voting,

the pros outweigh the cons. Therefore, the United States should adopt this voting system of

making voting mandatory for every registered voter in the country so we can stop having low

voting rates, protest, rallies all because we do not like the candidates who were picked to run for

the president of the United States.


Works Cited

Levine, Daniel S. "Over 90 Million Eligible Voters Didnt Vote in the 2016 Presidential

Election." Heavy.com. N.p., 10 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Apr. 2017.

Marans, Daniel, and Kim Bellware. "7 Reasons You Should Vote In This Year's

Elections." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Aug. 2016. Web.

21 Apr. 2017.

"Pros and Cons of Mandatory Voting." Vote Better. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2017.

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