Preview

Argumentative Essay: Compulsory Voting In Canada

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
602 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Argumentative Essay: Compulsory Voting In Canada
We are a democratic country, with this comes a responsibility which involves voting. In Canada every citizen, over the age of eighteen, has the right to vote, but so many chose not to. With voters turn out toward outstanding lows, wouldn't mandatory voting make the best law based solution? Britannica.com describes compulsory voting as a, “system in some countries, notably Australia and Belgium, electoral participation is legally required, and nonvoters can face fines. The concept of compulsory voting reflects a strain in democratic theory in which voting is considered not merely a right but a duty. Its purpose is to ensure the electoral equality of all social groups.” There are a number of reasons why individuals might not vote, for instance, …show more content…
This could possibly lead to the population being more engaged in politics. The citizens will be more encouraged to learn about what is happening in politics and attending turnouts. The voices of unheard citizens will now have a voice. Acta Politica once said that, “compulsory voting sends the message that every vote matters, it is able to restore rather than harm democracy and its values”. All equivalent interest in the system is helping to be ensured by mandatory …show more content…
Back in Australian history, many people would stop voting, to a point where they made it mandatory. The voting system was brought in 1924 and the turnouts are usually not under 90%. The year the government had to enforce this rule it rose to about 32%. This system is still disproving what people say, that the citizens were forced against their own will. But it is supported by 70% of the citizens. More than 23 countries have compulsory voting and like Australia, the benefits have outweighed the negatives.
Mandatory voting becomes a lot easier for everyone. Casting ballot will be easier, and a simple process than before. Candidates can focus on their campaigning, rather than encouageing people to attend the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Countries like Australia, Italy, Peru and more, have compulsory voting, from the source of the International institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance(International IDEA)(Doc. A). These countries have had required voting for at least a century. Not only that but there have been countries that have had successful compulsory voting. An example would be Peru’s compulsory voting system which will be represented by a Jimmy Carter’s “Peru Trip Report” which he wrote after visiting Peru after his presidency. “...they overcame this initial problem, and nationwide voting was completed almost perfectly and on time.” “We could see no possibility of any error in the casting and counting of ballots, and (for the first time in our experience as monitors) there was not a single complaint….”(Doc. E). With the evidence above it can be seen that not only do other countries have compulsory voting but have done it…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Citizens would have to know what they are voting about if they are required to vote. Joe Heller’s, “School Repairs”, political cartoon explains why compulsory voting is important because it would inform people of issues that they did not even knew existed. Heller states, “[...]arouse in them an intelligent interest…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Justin Trudeau plans to “restore democracy in Canada” by possibly eliminating optional voting. As an alternative, he plans to perhaps introduce mandatory and online voting in the future. The mandatory voting system will enforce a more democratic government, with the population’s choice, representing Canada as a whole. Justin Trudeau is attempting to enforce that everyone will have the opportunity to vote.…

    • 187 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within Australia, the majority of adults are eligible to vote for the national government every three years. Because Australia is considered a ‘free’ country the voting population has the right to use their vote how they please. Many, however, abuse or even throw away their vote due to political disinterest or in an attempt to overthrow a certain political party.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mandatory voting has a possibility of leading to random votes. Mandatory voting has a possibility of leading to random votes because many citizens are either uneducated about politics or they are apolitical, meaning that they don’t care about politics. If there was mandatory voting then people would have to vote even though they don’t want to. In fact, this is because people who are apolitical just don’t care about voting and many other people don’t usually know about any other candidates, so they don’t vote. Stated in document 2, lines 24 and 25, Maria Gretschew wrote, “It has been proved that forcing the population to vote results in an increased number of invalid and blank votes”. This means that if citizens were forced to vote there would…

    • 218 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A more sensible alternative to compulsory voting would be to make voting more accessible. One possible way of doing this is to create a national holiday, or…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As we all know, every vote counts. If we do not remove these voting restraints, at least twenty million people will not have the right to vote for who will…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the nation stands, only about 30-50 percent of the United States has voted for a presidential candidate since 2000. A disappointment it is to only have at most about half of the US vote being that it has the third largest population in the world. However, to resolve this dilemma, the idea of mandatory voting could be used to help get the voice of the whole nation out. The need of mandatory is immense for it will better represent the population of America, level the playing field of candidate parties, and it will give the incentive for more informed voting causing the better quality of voters.…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the last election several controversial issues, were being voted on. One of the topics that many people had strong opinions about was voter ID. The majority of people polled felt that Voter ID should be required in all elections. They firmly believed that if voter ID was mandatory it would increase voter confidence in the outcome of elections, reduce voter fraud, and facilitate use of updated, efficient 21st century election systems.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The right to vote is one of the fundamental rights that serves as an indicator for freedom of a people, and can be seen in the history of every nation. Before Australia gained sovereignty in 1901, only male British subjects over 21 years of age were allowed to vote. In 1902, the Commonwealth of Australia uniformly passed into law the right of women over 21 years of age to vote, but deliberately excluded ‘native’ women and men from doing so. During this period, both indigenous men and women were excluded from voting in federal elections unless already registered within a state government, which was very difficult to do. In addition to the policy barring Aboriginal peoples from voting, there was a lack of inclusion in society that discouraged…

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    By doing this, there could be local business and other locations that are held as polling places. This would eliminate long drives that people may complain about and help with making it accessible to more people. Allowing for people to have a day specifically for voting would give them no other reason to not go out and vote. The main thing to focus on the improve the voter turn-out is primarily registering more people. Making it more accessible for people to submit their registration application from home or receiving an application in the mail would help eliminate excuses for not being registering. I can honestly say I have not registered simply because I am too lazy to find a stamp and envelope to mail it off. Sad, but this is the truth of our generation; which needs to be fixed…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due to recent studies the United States has been uncovered in having one of the best voter satisfaction rates in the world. However, the United States has one of the lowest voter turnout rates. In countries such as Australia there are penalties for citizens who do not vote and have a low voter satisfaction rate. America does not deserve the punishment of compulsory voting as it does not improve government climate, non-voters tend to be uneducated politically, and compulsory voting requires a data base.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Voter turnout can increase if the United States makes it compulsory like the other democratic nations who turnout is 90% and up. The US is one of the few democracies that require its citizens to register to vote. In most other democratic nations this is not a separate step. The government provides the polling location to each citizen as they comprised a listing of each citizen with the person’s name, age and address. The person just has to show up to the poll to vote, show identification and then are checked against that location’s list. The US leaves the registration to each citizen. A significant number of voters never take the initial step of bothering to register. And then those that take this step may show up to vote to find out there…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Should voting in the U.s be mandatory? In this article, the author shows the opinions of two professors. Lisa Hills, from…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the United States government, citizens are not required to vote but are strongly encouraged to do so. In some countries such as Australia, Greece, and Mexico, it is mandatory, beginning at age eighteen, for citizens to vote in government elections. Compulsory voting should be mandatory in the United states. It increases voter turnout and will help minimize political polarization.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays