I mentioned this in another thread and I would like to see it happen, but , I would like to get some input on what people here think. I know there are a lot of different talents and knowledge bases that post here, so I should be able to get some good points from you guys.

1)Mandatory voting at McMaster?
2) Way to enforce it: fines, restrictions, punishments?


Thoughts?

oh yeah, for those who are too lazy to type "compulsory voting wiki"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_voting

I like it, but don't think it's feasible.

I don't think you can make people vote, or they'd have done it at the municipal/provincial/federal level

We used to force people to vote in High School, but that was a lot easier...everyone had a core "homeroom" and we'd do voting then. It would be realy hard here I would guess lol

Pretty stupid idea. The election process would become even more of a joke since candidates would rely even more on Casey Park tactics since they're memorable and now that the stupid people are forced to vote, they'll vote for the candidate with the best and most funny gimmick.

mandatory? really? why?

Why dont you think it is feasible? What if it was done through ELM? (obviously the fact that you voted would be linked to you, not who you voted for)

I'm not trying to push anything in any direction, just trying to see "problems" as challenges. So instead of saying "it would be hard to get everyone to vote", I would say "How could we make it so we could facilitate everyone voting?"

Please elaborate on what you think the problems would be! I want to know what you all think! I hope this thread turns into a big collection of ideas and "challenge" statements.

[email protected]!n5t0rm!ng w00t!

I don't agree with forced voting in any arena, be it state or school. Voting is a right, and as such, people have the right to vote, not vote, or to not care about it.

Agree with Souldier. If only approximately 24% of the student population voted, that means at max, maybe 50% care (assuming the other 26% were 'too busy' or some other excuse to note vote). That's a generous estimate, it's probably closer to 30%.

So you're saying you want 70% of the votes to be given by people who don't care? That means if "everyone didn't care" and just voted for whoever they remembered coming into their class (i.e., Casey Park this year) then he could have won easily without even having a proper campaign or anything - just by coming in and being memorable.

Originally Posted by reeves

I don't agree with forced voting in any arena, be it state or school. Voting is a right, and as such, people have the right to vote, not vote, or to not care about it.

I completely agree! Forcing people to vote is undemocratic. I think a lot of people would be against this.

Ummmmmm........WHAT? Really?? I think forcing people to vote is ridiculous. The whole point of voting is being able to choose and have an option....and forcing someone to vote would kinda be goofy. I guess if pple didn't want to vote for someone they could always abstain, but still - There's something about this idea that I really don't like.

Students should WANT to vote because they think it will make a difference or something, but if they think that voting for an MSU prez or anything is pointless then that's their right and their opinion and no one should ever be forced to vote.

People who vote in student elections do it because they care, those who don't have reasons for not doing it. If you force people they're just gonna select random candidates to vote for and then you have results that are useless. This idea is silly.

Originally Posted by lorend

I like it, but don't think it's feasible.

I don't think you can make people vote, or they'd have done it at the municipal/provincial/federal level

There's actually a lot of countries that use mandatory voting, for example Australia, where they usually have about 95% voter turnout, with fines given to those who don't vote

I'm not a fan of this idea. Just because people are forced to vote doesn't mean they will also be forced to make an informed decision. If people end up randomly selecting names, or just picking whoever was most entertaining and memorable, because they are being forced to vote, then I think that would do more harm.

Originally Posted by Maegs

There's actually a lot of countries that use mandatory voting, for example Australia, where they usually have about 95% voter turnout, with fines given to those who don't vote

Thanks for mentioning this... I was going to if someone else hadn't.

I am for mandatory voting, and I don't think it's "undemocratic" as long as it was put in place by popular vote in the first place (ie referendum). In the same token, if the people didn't want it anymore, they could remove it in the same way.

Originally Posted by Taunton

Thanks for mentioning this... I was going to if someone else hadn't.

I am for mandatory voting, and I don't think it's "undemocratic" as long as it was put in place by popular vote in the first place (ie referendum). In the same token, if the people didn't want it anymore, they could remove it in the same way.

You do realize that a vote to decide whether to force people to vote might give somewhat biased results?

If this was ever implemented I would stop voting on principle.