Obama floats making voting mandatory, calling it 'potentially transformative'

[Go Skins]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/19/obama-floats-making-voting-mandatory-calling-it-potentially-transformative/

 

WASHINGTON –  They say the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes. President Barack Obama wants to add one more: voting.

 

Obama floated the idea of mandatory voting in the U.S. while speaking to a civic group in Cleveland on Wednesday. Asked about the influence of money in U.S. elections, Obama digressed into the topic of voting rights and said the U.S. should be making it easier for people to vote.

Just ask Australia, where citizens have no choice but to vote, the president said.

 

"If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country," Obama said, calling it "potentially transformative." Not only that, Obama said, but universal voting would "counteract money more than anything."

 

Disproportionately, Americans who skip the polls on Election Day are younger, lower-income and more likely to be immigrants or minorities, Obama said. "There's a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls," he said in a veiled reference to voter identification laws in a number of states.

 

Less than 37 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2014 midterms, according to the United States Election Project. And a Pew Research Center study found that those avoiding the polls in 2014 tended to be younger, poorer, less educated and more racially diverse.

At least two dozen countries have some form of compulsory voting, including Belgium, Brazil and Argentina. In many systems, absconders must provide a valid excuse or face a fine, although a few countries have laws on the books that allow for potential imprisonment.

 

[T-Dub]

For it.  Interesting to see the backlash from folks who'd be cheering his patriotism if it was some old white dude wrapping himself in the flag.

[Jamie_B]

Don't know that I'm for it being mandatory, but I am for it being incentivized, (ie: on election day if you can show your company proof you voted you get the day off). Obviously as a liberal I know that the more people that vote the more likely I am to get the types of policies I want to see, however at the same time there are ALOT of stupid people in this country that I'm not sure I want to, reproduce, let alone vote either. :lol:

[T-Dub]

 Obviously as a liberal I know that the more people that vote the more likely I am to get the types of policies I want to see

 

 

I am under the impression that this is how it's supposed to work

[Khatmandude]

Fuck Obama

[CincyInDC]

Fuck Obama

You make a compelling argument. Have you considered a career in cable news television?

[|Lucid|]

Don't know that I'm for it being mandatory, but I am for it being incentivized, (ie: on election day if you can show your company proof you voted you get the day off). Obviously as a liberal I know that the more people that vote the more likely I am to get the types of policies I want to see, however at the same time there are ALOT of stupid people in this country that I'm not sure I want to, reproduce, let alone vote either. :lol:

 

Not to try and single you out.. But if it's mostly poor people who aren't voting, offering to give them a day off isn't helping.. They are probably hourly workers who need those hours to put food on the table.
 

If we want to solve the voting problem why don;t we start by truly making it easier to vote? Provide transportation to those who need it. Make absentee balloting more prominent and push them in the lower income neighborhoods to help reduce loads on polling stations and reduce poll intimidation (or the perception of it which keeps many minorities away). Open more polling stations so that people in the inner city aren't waiting for hours to cast a vote.

 

On that last note. I live in Westwood. My polling station is about a mile from my house and it literally takes me 15 minutes to vote. Then I go home and turn on the TV to news of people standing in line FOR HOURS in the inner cities. They end up EXTENDING polling hours at these districts because PEOPLE ARE STILL STANDING IN LINE.  Then come the news reports about how poor people and minorities aren't voting.. WELL FUCKING DUH! How many of you would do it if it meant YOUR ENTIRE EVENING? Many of these people get off work and stand in line until 8 or 9 o'clock waiting to cast their ballots and the fuck heads living in the suburbs get on the news and have the gall to talk about voter apathy in the inner cities? Get the fuck outta here with that shit.

 

Wake the fuck up people. People in the ghettos don't vote as much because people who call the shots don't want them to and make it as hard on them as possible to do so. Before we go enacting mandatory voting laws, why don't we just try making it just as EASY for those people to vote as it is for those of us in the 'burbs.

[Jamie_B]

I'm talking about making it a paid day off if I wasn't clear.

[|Bunghole|]

Why don't they just incentive voting with booze or money or something?

[T-Dub]

Why don't they just incentive voting with booze or money or something?

In case not having a double-talking sleazebag like John Boehner representing you isn't incentive enough, you mean.


A national holiday would be a good fuckin start, definitely.

[Go Skins]

 

Not to try and single you out.. But if it's mostly poor people who aren't voting, offering to give them a day off isn't helping.. They are probably hourly workers who need those hours to put food on the table.
 

If we want to solve the voting problem why don;t we start by truly making it easier to vote? Provide transportation to those who need it. Make absentee balloting more prominent and push them in the lower income neighborhoods to help reduce loads on polling stations and reduce poll intimidation (or the perception of it which keeps many minorities away). Open more polling stations so that people in the inner city aren't waiting for hours to cast a vote.

 

On that last note. I live in Westwood. My polling station is about a mile from my house and it literally takes me 15 minutes to vote. Then I go home and turn on the TV to news of people standing in line FOR HOURS in the inner cities. They end up EXTENDING polling hours at these districts because PEOPLE ARE STILL STANDING IN LINE.  Then come the news reports about how poor people and minorities aren't voting.. WELL FUCKING DUH! How many of you would do it if it meant YOUR ENTIRE EVENING? Many of these people get off work and stand in line until 8 or 9 o'clock waiting to cast their ballots and the fuck heads living in the suburbs get on the news and have the gall to talk about voter apathy in the inner cities? Get the fuck outta here with that shit.

 

Wake the fuck up people. People in the ghettos don't vote as much because people who call the shots don't want them to and make it as hard on them as possible to do so. Before we go enacting mandatory voting laws, why don't we just try making it just as EASY for those people to vote as it is for those of us in the 'burbs.

 

Maybe this is because I live in a DC suburb, but voting places have never been more than 2 miles from where I have lived (and I have lived in 3 different suburbs).  The longest wait for me was in 2008 and that wasn't surprising.  Otherwise, I have left work, and I have walked right in and walked right out within 2 minutes.  

[|Lucid|]

 

Maybe this is because I live in a DC suburb, but voting places have never been more than 2 miles from where I have lived (and I have lived in 3 different suburbs).  The longest wait for me was in 2008 and that wasn't surprising.  Otherwise, I have left work, and I have walked right in and walked right out within 2 minutes.  

 

That's how it is for me and for most people who don't live in the inner city. I have never had to wait in line to vote in my life. That's my point.

[HairOnFire]

My wife and I have voted by mail for nearly 30 years.

 

Did it the first time because we were going to be out of the country on election day so we applied for permanent absentee voter status.

 

Your status doesn't change as long as you vote in every election.