Should the US have mandatory voting?

[OBD]

Hell no, people should get to decide that on their own.

[Epaminondas]

I really don't understand the logic of forcing politically ignorant and apathetic people to vote.

The voting system itself it what drives their apathy.

[TrumpBritt24]

No. Just, no.

[MillennialModerate]

Yes. Yes and Yes.

[brucejoel99]

In a mandatory voting system, the total vote count better represents the wants of the public. It's the inevitable end of the idea that more voting is always good voting. It's shown that lower voter turnout can lead to skewed results, usually towards the most passionate, well organized, entrenched, radical, etc. groups. This can be especially true in local elections where voting turnout can be extremely low. So, for the sake of preserving the integrity of elections, which are meant to result in policies that represent & govern the citizens effected, whether they vote or not, mandatory voting should exist.

[morgankingsley]

I take back what I said last year, we absolutely should not have mandatory voting

[emailking]

I really don't understand the logic of forcing politically ignorant and apathetic people to vote.

Well in my view, there shouldn't be any major penalty, just a small fine. (Plus casting a blank ballot is fine, plus voting absentee w/o justification is fine.)

Think of it like jury duty. You can easily get out of serving on a jury by saying you are opposed to trial by jury. But you still have to show up as a civic duty.