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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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This is the biggest reason that compulsory voting like we have in Australia is so good.
It's not a violation of free speech at all. You can always choose to just hand in a blank or deliberately-spoilt ballot.
But what it does mean is that the Government is forced to provide adequate resources to polling places to ensure that everyone is able to conveniently vote. You can't get away with nearly as much voter suppression when everyone has to vote.
I can't help but feel this is an optimistic view. There's plenty of things everyone has to do in America that are still much more convenient or differently funded in rich or white areas. For example, going to school or getting government ID.
If you're legally required to vote but voting is made into a very painful experience, who are you going to vote for? The guy that made it very difficult?
Sure, if you haven't been brainwashed into believing it was the other guy who made it very difficult.
Yeah, most people would believe the bad guy was the one who made it mandatory.
Sweet child...
If the voting experience is sufficiently onerous, people will still not vote and pay the penalty (or go to jail). Then it'll be just another tax/burdon on people in disadvantaged areas.
Looks like Western Australia charges $50 for repeated failure to vote. $50 Australian ($31 USD) to not take off work to stand in line for 3 hours getting sunburnt? That's less than minimum wage in my state. It would make financial sense to just go to work and pay the penalty, ignoring the less tangible potential long-term benefit of effecting change in favor of paying rent.
Except voting day in Australia is on a weekend, not during the week. And there are also pre polling centres, where if you plan to be away on vacation or working on voting day, you can go along to a pre poll centre and vote weeks in advance. Australia also has mail in and even telephone voting for those unable to visit these centres.
Some would, for sure. But some would stick it out. And even in many areas thought of as deeply red, the margin required to flip the result is not that much. If you have a previous voter turnout of 2/3, and just 1/4 of the previous non-voters end up voting because it's mandatory, that's an 8 point swing. That would have been enough to swing 4 more states in 2020, as well as Maine's 2nd district. Or if it were the Democrats responsible for attempted voter suppression, those same stats would see 7 states plus Nevada's 2nd flip to Republican. That's looking at the presidential race because the stats were easiest to find and compare, but it's likely even more pertinent in congressional races. Enough of the races would be close enough to basically guarantee the side supporting people's democratic rights will win a majority of seats.
Yeah, I don’t see this working at all. If it does for you guys, that’s great, but we’re talking places where voting rights are already protected. None of these laws actually prevent people from voting, but can discourage enough to make a difference. Even if it’s partisan, the results skew quite racist. It’s only a few places in the US where officials think they can get away with this, but it’s definitely huge news.
Fr a specific example, I believe there was something in Texas like one place to drop off mail in votes per county. Maybe that’s even reasonable in most counties, but not when one county is the city of Houston. Do you really think a measly fine would make people endure that wait?