forcing people to perform an act to legitimize an unjust system
I assume this means that you don’t believe votes are properly counted and that all of our elections are “rigged.”
If you have that belief, then what reforms do you think are possible? Most people who I’ve heard express those opinions are far right wing people who want to discard democracy.
Not the one you responded to but if I may hazard a guess I’d say they see non-voting as a protest against the two party representative democracy currently in place.
If you’re forced to vote and there is no blank alternative, you are being forced to legitimise it whether you like it or not.
In Australia, for example, which has mandatory voting, the only requirement is that you participate. So, you can do the equivalent of submitting a completely empty ballot if you want to protest.
Mandatory voting creates more room for independent and minor parties to collect your vote, instead of just abstaining in the booth. The preference system tends to avoid outcomes that don’t reflect the electorate.
In Australia, far left and far right politicians and candidates can and do bloviate all they want, but ultimately mandatory voting pulls politics back to the centre.
I assume this means that you don’t believe votes are properly counted and that all of our elections are “rigged.”
If you have that belief, then what reforms do you think are possible? Most people who I’ve heard express those opinions are far right wing people who want to discard democracy.
Not the one you responded to but if I may hazard a guess I’d say they see non-voting as a protest against the two party representative democracy currently in place.
If you’re forced to vote and there is no blank alternative, you are being forced to legitimise it whether you like it or not.
In Australia, for example, which has mandatory voting, the only requirement is that you participate. So, you can do the equivalent of submitting a completely empty ballot if you want to protest.
We also hold elections on a Saturday, and allow early voting. It’s not a perfect system, nothing is, but it’s far better than the shit-show in the US.
And there’s sausages!
Mandatory voting creates more room for independent and minor parties to collect your vote, instead of just abstaining in the booth. The preference system tends to avoid outcomes that don’t reflect the electorate.
In Australia, far left and far right politicians and candidates can and do bloviate all they want, but ultimately mandatory voting pulls politics back to the centre.