Mandatory Voting
I had some reservations about this mainly because even those who exercise this right now don't do it well. Currently the right to vote is taken for granted and there are serious problems when a country's voting turn out is near 50%, but looking at who gets into office tells me those who practice voting now aren't very good at it. Just looking at the governments Ontario has reelected makes me want to go the other way and make it harder for people to vote. The very premise of voting is a say in the governance of the public money, unfortunately it doesn't have to be an intelligent say. Though this is not the current situation and so I must say mandatory voting is overall a good idea. There I said it. This site has a good article on it:
FindLaw's Writ - Dean: Is It Time To Consider Mandatory Voting Laws? The main point that seals the deal is if you have mandatory taxation then mandatory voting is a good idea.
Some people have told me they believe if some people are forced to do it some of them will end looking into matters and making an informed choice (or at least more informed than a random check). The problem I have with this is the population mostly gets information about government from the network news. How many people have heard a bill being debated on any level? The other problem is that there are many issues and so you may be on side with one party for one item but against them for another and too uninformed to know there are more than two parties (this is obviously not the case for my regular readers). A good indication of this is Canada's federal election that saw people saying there top 2 priorities for the federal government isn't under the fed's power.
So how do we make it work. Well for starters we need a national holiday for voting day. Possibly it may also be a good idea for people to have a day off for the candidates debate and leaders debate (at different times on the same day). To ensure the right to apathy (which I think still needs to be allowed, but expressed) there should be a "None of the above" type box on the ballot with stipulations if this number is too high. Although it should be mandatory it believe the punishment shouldn't be too extreme, like a 0.025% increase in your tax rate with a minimum of $100 or so. This way the poor aren't penalized too badly compared to the rich.
But I don't think this will "fix" our Democracy. I think an even better solution is to have local polls for votes on bills. For instance although you can write to your MP or MPP he doesn't have to listen. But if during the time the bill is being debated his constituents send in their votes on the bill and if the number reaches, say the percentage of people that voted the person into office, he must be legally bound to vote that way. I think this will increase the awareness of the bill being passed and consequently the work government is doing. Also people can have a more direct say in specific matters that appeal to them. That will improve our democracy I think.
FindLaw's Writ - Dean: Is It Time To Consider Mandatory Voting Laws? The main point that seals the deal is if you have mandatory taxation then mandatory voting is a good idea.
Some people have told me they believe if some people are forced to do it some of them will end looking into matters and making an informed choice (or at least more informed than a random check). The problem I have with this is the population mostly gets information about government from the network news. How many people have heard a bill being debated on any level? The other problem is that there are many issues and so you may be on side with one party for one item but against them for another and too uninformed to know there are more than two parties (this is obviously not the case for my regular readers). A good indication of this is Canada's federal election that saw people saying there top 2 priorities for the federal government isn't under the fed's power.
So how do we make it work. Well for starters we need a national holiday for voting day. Possibly it may also be a good idea for people to have a day off for the candidates debate and leaders debate (at different times on the same day). To ensure the right to apathy (which I think still needs to be allowed, but expressed) there should be a "None of the above" type box on the ballot with stipulations if this number is too high. Although it should be mandatory it believe the punishment shouldn't be too extreme, like a 0.025% increase in your tax rate with a minimum of $100 or so. This way the poor aren't penalized too badly compared to the rich.
But I don't think this will "fix" our Democracy. I think an even better solution is to have local polls for votes on bills. For instance although you can write to your MP or MPP he doesn't have to listen. But if during the time the bill is being debated his constituents send in their votes on the bill and if the number reaches, say the percentage of people that voted the person into office, he must be legally bound to vote that way. I think this will increase the awareness of the bill being passed and consequently the work government is doing. Also people can have a more direct say in specific matters that appeal to them. That will improve our democracy I think.
posted by Eddie | 6:34 PM
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