Good idea. Mandatory voting and a national holiday for elections.
Just provide an X for “none of the above”
Yeah, sorry, this is crap. Some people just don’t like being free, I guess.
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What if I don’t want to show up? Why should I be penalized for sitting my happy butt at home on the couch watching Springer, or whatever else these people do who decide not to participate in the system?
Maybe if there was an option to opt-out which did not require forced appearance? But even then, it just seems like an encroachment on my freedom to choose to do, or not do, whatever I want as long as I am not harming someone else.
Man…amen to this! I wish I could 
this post 1,000 times!
If I were forced to vote, or show up, I’d do my best to make sure some truly terrible people were on the ballot and get everyone else who was forced to vote for them. Like the old American Idol vote for the worst gag that used to happen.
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If we had automatic registration, automatic ballot mailing and a mandatory return we’d have a much more secure election.
If I get a summons for jury duty I have to reply and am often forced into action. What’s the harm in simply returning a ballot?
Democratic Party trying to force people to vote, Trumpist Party trying to prevent them.
Both sides need to be slapped.
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I completely understand. Let me be free to do what I want, when I want, and how I want. As long as I am not hurting someone else. Liberty before all other things.
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I went a goofy way about saying, if one is forced into something, can you really expect that person’s best efforts? It seems to me that whomever is behind this proposition is sore about an election result, and even more dismayed by their ineptitude in delivering a message that will energize voters. So this group does what it knows best, cry to Mama Government.
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What if I don’t want to show up for jury duty? What if I witness a car accident, get subpoenaed and don’t want to show up?
There are aspects of our society that we are obligated to participate in. Why shouldn’t voting be one?
Well stated!
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Fair questions. I’ve been contemplating the jury duty one in particular, when it was proposed by @hwyflier as it is a good point.
As for the subpoena notion, are there not means by which you are not forced to go anywhere to give your sworn statements? You know this area better than me.
I also agree with @Dissident_Aggressor that if you force someone to do something against their will, the likelihood of getting their best effort will diminish rapidly.
Here is a much better idea:
No national holiday, keep things as they are (including on a Tuesday, there are plenty of other ways to vote if you don’t think you’ll be able to make it to a polling station if you still do it that way.)
On national offices in General Election – No party affiliation listed by the names. If the person doesn’t know who thinks they way they do, they should leave it blank.
Instead of restricting time to campaign – campaign finance where only a candidate can use the name or likness of any politician or candidate. All other have to do issue oriented campaign ads only.
How about a ballot initiative that repeals mandatory voting? Are you going force me to show up for that one?
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And there’s my main objection to this. I suspect too many voters half-ass their ballots anyway, we don’t need people just randomly checking boxes to get a chore over with.
What do they spend most of that money on?
As far as I’m concerned, I think ballot initiatives should be prohibited in all but very specific situations.
I’m in full agreement here. They’re an end around our representative republic that subjects us to tyranny of the majority. But that wasn’t really my point, was it?
Or worse, voting vindictively.
This should go down well in a country many don’t take the time to get and ID made to vote and half of the country could care less because there not into politics. But hey we can make them get into it.
