In my opinion, we need compulsory voting in all federal congressional and presidential elections to fix our broken political system.
Currently, the poor don't really vote, and politicians specifically target special interest groups to get them to vote, rather than representing the whole population. Most Americans are pro-same sex marriage, for example, but politicians target wealthy, older voters who are more likely to vote -- because they are who matters. If we had compulsory voting, politicians would truly represent everyone, rather than special interests. The poor wouldn't be disenfranchised, as everyone would have to vote. It'd make our political system - one based heavily on special interests - a lot cleaner.
The voting day should be declared a federal public holiday, where everyone would be able to have a paid day off to vote. Or, elections should always be held on a Saturday or Sunday. Also, we should have compulsory high school classes in civics. (How the government works, the different branches of government, etc)
The penalty for not voting should be a fine.
We should also have a proportional representation system - abolishing the first-past-the-post system. With all of these things, our democracy would be much more representative, cleaner, and fairer for all people.
Because democracy is the most important part of our country, and right now -- our democracy isn't looking too good.
Australia has a compulsory voting system, and their populace seems much more involved in politics, at least compared to Americans.
That graph shows that what we have now is grossly inequitable, unfair, and unrepresentative. Wealth not only decides who can influence politics, but who can vote.
It'd also put an end to all that voter suppression nonsense in some states that's going on right now.
Thoughts?
Edit: Let me clarify my point. I don't think that compulsory voting necessarily makes a good democracy. A democracy can work perfectly well without compulsory voting, but in the United States, there is a huge difference in voter turnout based on income, race, and age. If someone can think of an idea that would help improve voter turnout for disenfranchised groups and make a more representative democracy, be my guest. Australia shows that compulsory voting hasn't had a disastrous effect on their democracy. However, as I said before, compulsory voting would need to be paired with other things like civics classes, voting as a public holiday/on weekends, and proportional representation. If we can improve voter turnout without compulsory voting, great. But someone present an idea.
