Compulsory Voting

[Meclazine for Israel]

For the 2024 Presidential Election, the US should make voting compulsory.

If that does not happen I have another idea.

Around 160M people voted in the last Presidential election.

That is the same amount as the big $1.6 Billion dollar lottery draw.

So to get more people to vote in the Presidential election, the US Government should award one lucky voter a prize of $1.6Bn.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I've gone back and forth on the idea of compulsory voting over the years and finally decided I don't favor it.  If someone is truly uninformed and doesn't care to educate themselves on candidates/parties, I'd prefer they didn't just pick someone at random.  However, voting should be strongly encouraged and made as convenient as possible. 

The lottery idea is one that I've also thought of, although I'm not sure where you're getting the $1.6 billion figure; tickets for the two big US lotteries (Powerball and Mega Millions) cost $2 each.  My idea was to use those existing lottery infrastructures and give each voter one lottery ticket for an upcoming drawing.

[Ferguson97]

I genuinely do not get the argument for compulsory voting. Why make someone vote if they don’t want to? And yeah I know some countries have a “none of the above” box to check off but that’s completely pointless. Why is checking off that box better than abstaining?

[Banana Republican]

Perhaps voting should be compulsory for Democrats but optional for Republicans. For Independents, it can be encouraged.

[oldtimer]

If voting becomes compulsory then young poor uneducated people would vote close to the same rates as old rich educated ones.

That would skew politics towards the interests and tastes of the young and the working class.

So I doubt that the Senate is going to pass it.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Compulsory voting won't increase participation because it's difficult and unpopular to enforce. We had it here for years and I can't remember a single case where somebody suffered any kind of consequences because he/she didn't vote.

Make election day a federal holiday instead.

[kyc0705]

The problem with voter turnout in this country is less the absolute percentage of people who don't vote, and more the gulf in turnout between states that emphasize making it easy to vote and states that, well, do not.

[Duke of York]

No,  part of having a right is choosing not to exercise that right.

[GeorgiaModerate]

No part of having a right is choosing not to exercise that right.

Do you want a comma or period after "No"?  As written it's kind of ambiguous.

[Ferguson97]

No part of having a right is choosing not to exercise that right.

Do you want a comma or period after "No"?  As written it's kind of ambiguous.

[MarkD]

Don't you dare call yourself pro-choice and also say that you support making voting mandatory.