A town hall meeting in Cleveland seems like a strange place to make an announcement of this caliber, but U.S. President Barack Obama did it anyway. While speaking to the civic group City Club of Cleveland on Wednesday, Obama brought up the idea of compulsory voting, stating that this was the first time he’d ever mentioned the idea out loud.
When asked about how to best counteract the influence of money in elections, Obama began talking about voting rights and accessibility.
“If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country,” Obama said at the meeting, the Associated Press reported. He went on to call the effects “potentially transformative” and said that mandatory universal voting would “counteract money more than anything,” the AP reported.
This idea comes after years of pretty dismal voting rates. Voter turnout is consistently at less than 65 percent for presidential elections, and turnout during the midterms rarely reaches 45 percent, according to data from The Center for Voting and Democracy. Voter turnout in the 2014 midterm election was at an all-time low of just 37 percent, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
Those who decided to abstain from the polls in the 2014 midterms tended to be younger, less educated, lower-income and more likely to be minorities, according to statistics by FairVote. Keeping that in mind, it’s no secret that rounding up all these non-voters and directing them to their nearest polling place would help boost numbers for the Democrats.
“There’s a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls,” Obama said at the meeting, CNN reported, not so slyly referencing the Republican initiative to seemingly make it harder for people to vote.
About two dozen countries have compulsory voting, spanning every continent (besides Antarctica). Multiple countries have introduced compulsory voting only to abolish it some years later. Most recently, Fiji abolished mandatory voting in 2014. Failure to vote in the countries that require it is usually just punishable by fine. However, in Belgium, failing to pay your fine could land you in prison, CNN reported.
Obama cited the huge influence that the wealthy have over voter turnout as one of the biggest problems in the way the voting system works. Low voter turnout provides an advantage to the party with the best turnout, and compulsory voting would change that completely, irreversibly altering the makeup of the electorate.
Changing the role that money plays in the election process would require a constitutional amendment, the likes of which the GOP has blocked from passing in the past. Obama, on the other hand, has historically opposed court rulings that would allow super PACs and unlimited campaign spending. Although Obama said it might be “fun” for the United States to consider amending its Constitution, he realizes that this is not necessarily realistic for the near future.
“Realistically, given the requirements of that process, that would be a long-term proposition,” he said.
Long-term indeed, and perhaps too optimistic. It’s a great idea in theory and in intent — having everyone providing his or her opinion is clearly the best way to advocate for everybody. There’s no better way to galvanize people who are apathetic (or people who have been disenfranchised by the current voting system) than by making voting mandatory. They’d have to look into party platforms and get educated, and they’d obviously make informed decisions, right?
Not necessarily. There’s a very valid fear that some people, if forced to vote, would not do so carefully. Voting based on name recognition or single-issue voting are issues we already face from the current electorate. Imagine how many times that would be multiplied if 100 percent voter turnout were mandated. Voting would not be as sincere of an effort. Also, we can’t forget about the people who would say that being forced to vote is infringing on their rights. Voting is a right, but it’s not a right if it’s a law.
It’s concerning, obviously, that only half of the country — sometimes less — cares about who’s running our country. But why is that? Why are these people not voting? That’s the question that needs to be addressed before compulsory voting can be considered, among other things such as campaign finance reform and reform of the electoral college system. We need to improve the voting process itself before even considering letting everyone vote. You know the saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” Well, it’s definitely broke. And we definitely need to fix it.
Something that should be done, whether or not voting ever becomes compulsory, is getting more people to care and getting more people educated, especially younger people. This generation of college students is the future, and we’re the ones least likely to vote. In order to enact something like this, you’d have to require some sort of education among the general public. We’re the ones sitting here writing the news, so we are informed, but that’s not the case for all people. If you make people vote, you also have to make people care.