Voting should be mandatory and here’s why

In spirit of National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 28, we wanted to lobby our current presidential administration via college newspaper. Currently, 22 countries mandate voting, and we’d argue that the United States (and other countries) should do so as well.

In order to make mandatory voting successful and equitable, the process to receive a state-issued I.D. should be free and easily accessible. Driver’s licenses, passports and other forms of I.D. could still be administered with a fee, but not simple state-issued I.D.s. Logistically, if this were to become mandatory, Election Day should also be declared a federal holiday. Additionally, employers who mandate their employees work during federal holidays would be forced to give their employees paid time off in order to go vote. More polling locations should be added and mail-in-voting should also be expanded.

If voting were to be mandatory, election results would undoubtedly be more representative of the general American population. In 2020, which had the highest ever election turnout in American history, only 67% of eligible voters cast their ballots.

Based on current data, voters who lean heavily to the left or right are more likely to vote than citizens who fall in the middle of the political spectrum. Requiring all people to vote would force those of us who are indifferent and don’t fall to one side or the other to decide. This would likely increase bipartisanship and decrease the ever-growing polarization of American politics. More moderate candidates on either side of the spectrum would undoubtably have to be chosen in order to have a chance of winning.

By having the entire population vote, federal, state and local elections would take place on a more level playing field, allowing more candidates across the spectrum to try their hand at campaigning. This could also lead to the creation of a third party (or hopefully multiple), which would drastically change the political landscape of the United States. The creation of a third party would, in itself, be more representative of the ideological mood of the population.

Keeping on track with current events, mandatory voting would decrease the amount of voter suppression that is taking place during our elections. We’re not saying that it would completely eliminate voter suppression, but this could be one of many steps to eliminate it for good. Mandatory voting would also come with the caveat that there would be more consequences for suppressing voters.

Of course, since in almost every election not everyone likes even one of the candidates, there would still be a write-in option, and we’d lobby for an additional option of “none of the above.” By forcing someone to show up to the polling place, it encourages people to learn about the potential candidates, and, if they’re there anyway, they might as well pick their favorite. In other words, we don’t foresee the “none of the above” option being utilized by a lot of voters, but it should be there to protect our freedom of speech.

Unfortunately, since our Record column doesn’t influence the Biden Administration and voting continues to be optional, remember to celebrate National Voter Registration Day by checking your registration status and registering if you’re not already! Even though the 2021 election isn’t a presidential election year, there are still important state and local races happening.

If you don’t know how, feel free to email us! We’d be ecstatic to walk you through it.