There is no constitutionally required IQ level for those 18 or over to vote.As I've been watching the news lately I have noticed a terrifying truth that should cause all of us deep concern.
According to the media, tomorrow millions of stupid people will go to the polls and vote. These people, regardless of how stupid they are, have not been purged from any voter registration rolls in any jurisdiction. In fact, local canvassers have been actively registering stupid people to vote across the country. Tomorrow, stupid people will determine the course of our nation's future.
Be afraid.
So, the mention of voter ID reminds me that we have weird things in the US related to voter turnout. Sometimes, there have been cases of voter fraud. Sometimes, on the other end, there are policies put into place to try to suppress voter turnout. @Paidiske , how does Australia handle this? They have to enforce that everybody votes exactly once. How do they make sure that no one votes twice, while also making sure that voter identification isn't so burdensome that people give up and go home without voting?
And no to compulsory voting. It’s a terrible idea.
I’m a municipal politician. We have enough people voting now for poor reasons such as, “I know him and he’s a good guy,” or, “she was the only one who came to my door.”Why?
It wouldn't be legal here. Our Constitution protects freedom of speech which includes the freedom not to speak. It is sad that more people don't get involved but that is their right.I'm going to suggest something which may be counter-intuitive, and that is that one thing Australia does which seems to serve us better is that voting is compulsory here.
I’m a municipal politician. We have enough people voting now for poor reasons such as, “I know him and he’s a good guy,” or, “she was the only one who came to my door.”
I contend that if people are forced to vote you’ll have many voting just to meet a legal requirement and won’t give any effort.
I’d prefer, in order to vote, that everyone had to attend one of the candidate forums to get a card so you could vote. I hate the idea of compulsory voting.
Why?
This is the error of deviating from the Greek method of democracy. Today, it's little more than mob rule. Might as well open the polls to children and cattle, for all the sense you're going to get from voters today.As I've been watching the news lately I have noticed a terrifying truth that should cause all of us deep concern.
According to the media, tomorrow millions of stupid people will go to the polls and vote. These people, regardless of how stupid they are, have not been purged from any voter registration rolls in any jurisdiction. In fact, local canvassers have been actively registering stupid people to vote across the country. Tomorrow, stupid people will determine the course of our nation's future.
Be afraid.
But there are many more stupid people voting today, than say, 1918. A ship won't sink from a small leak. But there is a point where a large number of small leaks will sink the ship.And there have ALWAYS been stupid people voting, but the USA remains nevertheless.
This sounds like a great idea.I'm going to suggest something which may be counter-intuitive, and that is that one thing Australia does which seems to serve us better is that voting is compulsory here.
And while you'd think that would only mean more stupid people would vote, what it does protect us from is the race to the bottom in the attempt to motivate people to vote. Our politicians are - theoretically - free to present their best policies to the public secure in the knowledge that they don't have to convince us to vote; they only have to convince us to vote for them.
Now, in practice of course we have plenty of coarse politicking. But we don't seem to have become so polarised or so extreme as America, and my guess is that this is part of the reason. Just about every citizen will turn out and vote rather than be fined, so the whole tenor of the debate is different.
This sounds like a great idea.
Yeah, no kidding. Still sounds promising to me. National holiday, early voting, vote.It has no chance for the time being. The official ideology of the right is that the fewer people voting, the better it is for them.
Yeah, no kidding. Still sounds promising to me. National holiday, early voting, vote.
Seems to be that being against people voting is a strong black mark against your entire brand of politics...Yep. I like it. But as I said, the right would have a conniption.