Regarding mandatory voting

Salon writes:

If democracy dies in this country, it can be blamed on people who did not bother to vote last November.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump fought tooth and nail over almost everything. But, in the run-up to the November election, both urged Americans to vote like never before, saying over and over again that “This will be the most important election in the history of our country.”

Yet, despite the stakes of the 2024 election, millions of Americans sat out the election and did not vote. There were about 90 million of them, a number that dwarfs the 77 million people who voted for Donald Trump.

The United States can respond to looming threats to democracy by tackling the non-voting problem directly. That means making voting mandatory. Only by doing so do we have any chance to make the political system more democratic and more representative, and thus more resilient. 

Those who did not vote in 2024 were younger than those who voted. The Pew Research Center observes that they also were “more racially and ethnically diverse,…less affluent and less educated ” than those who voted.

Pew notes many reasons eligible voters did not vote in 2024. 35% believed that “their vote would not make a difference.” 31% said they did not vote because they generally do not like politics. Another 17% said they did not vote because they “did not care about the outcome.”

The rest of the non-voters didn’t turn out because they were not registered or voting was inconvenient. 8% said “they forgot to vote.”

Australia has had compulsory voting for almost one hundred years. As former Connecticut Secretary of State Miles Rapaport and historian Alex Keyssar explain, “In Australia, all registered citizens must vote, and almost everyone is registered; the enforcement mechanism is a fine of about $15, and people can cast blank or “none of the above” ballots to express their indifference to the offered slate of candidates. The result has been turnout of about 90 percent in every Australian election since 1924.”

Mandatory voting does not mean you have to vote for anyone or anything on the ballot. It just means you have to get a ballot and return it, even if you leave the whole thing blank. I'm a huge fan of mandatory voting because it tends to be pro-democracy, anti-extremism and anti-authoritarian.

Q: In general, what have been the effects of mandatory voting in Australia?

A: Compulsory voting ensures a more socially even turnout, reducing disparities in voter participation based on socioeconomic status, age, and ethnicity. This contrasts with countries like the UK, where turnout can vary significantly by demographic.

The system encourages political parties to appeal to the center rather than the extremes, as they must win over the entire electorate, not just their base. This has been credited with keeping Australia's political center more stable compared to other democracies.

Compulsory voting is believed to improve the caliber of individuals who run for office and the quality of decisions they make, as candidates must appeal to a broader electorate. Parties must consider the full spectrum of voter values, leading to policies that address a wider range of issues.

Etc.

But as we all know, the Republican Party opposes mandatory voting for the obvious reasons, i.e., wealth and power. Heck, the modern GOP leadership opposes real elections, period. Sham are probably OK for window dressing.