what do you think of mandatory voting? you can vote for noone, but you have to vote or you get fined $20.?

Australia does have compulsory voting with much success, but there are a lot of countries with compulsory voting rules don't have such high turnout. A lot of other countries also don't have a compulsory voting rule, yet they also have weirdly high turnout (Denmark has pretty good turnout but no compulsory voting, for example). So, if we want to increase voting turnout, making it mandatory won't necessarily achieve that.

As far as my opinion, I don't think we need to make it mandatory. Participation in the political process is a right that everyone should have available to them, and choosing to not participate at all should be an available option as well.

However, I think that making election day a holiday or having it on a weekend, like a lot of other countries do, is a great idea. I'm not sure it would increase turnout among the apathetic, but I think we need to be doing everything possible to make the democratic process as accessible as possible to everyone in the country. Giving them the day off to go vote, or scheduling elections on a day when most people already have off, is definitely one way to involve more people in the process.

A national voting holiday is a good idea. I also like the idea that's floating around to have a voting lottery. That is, some lucky voters win money. Unfortunately, we're just not a society that values political opinion, so whatever incentive it takes to get people out there is worth trying.

But making voting mandatory, punishable by a fine? To me that goes against the principles of freedom the country is based on.

I like the idea but it would be largely useless. People who didn't care would just simply never register to vote. And who would pay for the cost of writing the tickets, tracking the people down, etc....

I do think there should be a national voting holiday. But fining people who don't vote is about as useless as fining people for speeding. If a person doesn't care enough to vote by now, a $20 sure won't change their mind.

I don't like the idea of forcing people to vote. The people who don't vote probably don't have any strong interests in the election anyway.

I would prefer to make people take a test before they can vote. Just ask them a couple questions a person with a minimal knowledge of current events would know. After all why should a stupid person be allowed to cancel the vote of a well informed voter?

I don't like that idea. Despite whatever benefits may be possible, we are forcing people to do something against their will. That is involuntary servitude....slavery, in other words.

Sometimes such compulsion is necessary, but I don't think it is in this case. We've gotten along for hundreds of years without mandatory voting, and I think we'll survive a few more without it. Besides, you can still use voluntary means to induce voting. Exhaust those options first before you start threatening people with fines (whose payment is backed up by men with guns).

That's an interesting idea. Honestly it is the first time I've heard of this method and, by the way you put it, it sounds like it might actually work. Unfortunately, I don't really see it happening in either the US or Canada as it might take too much work. That and the extremists are already in power, they would do whatever to keep themselves there.

I don't think I like this idea. I would prefer less voters actually. I think there should be a fact based test on relevant issues. A mandatory score of 85% would be required in order to vote.

I think if we just had a voting holiday it would be ok and easier access to voting. Last election I couldn't get off work and I only have a half hour lunch and the lines in my precinct were an hour to 2 hours long. If voting was just easier we would do it.

I'm all for everyone voting, however, if you are voting, you need to know a little about who or what you are voting for and if forced, chances are people would just go and fill in the blanks, not a good thing.

Yeah, its a good idea but fining in that way might not work. There would be sick people, old people who wouldn't be able to vote because of their disability. It should be impimented but also voting process should be more dynamic and available to the voters, so that you can expect them to vote.