How to fix/improve elections?

tourne

Nov 9, 2015 at 6:54pm

tourne said:
Force people to vote! Fine them if they don't. It works.
tourne seems to 2nd your some of your suggestions. OK. I'll bite. What happens if people don't pay the fine?

If you don't pay the fine, it goes to collections and your credit gets ruined.

Australia has enforced compulsory voting as does 10 other countries. Australia also banned assault weapons after a school shooting and forced people to turn in their weapons. They haven't had another school shooting since.

jeffhandy

Nov 10, 2015 at 2:14am

If we really want to FIX elections then we need to get Jeb! into office, he has experience.

As for forcing people to go vote, I don't have a problem with it so long as you have an option to check a box that says "None of the Above".

nohero

Nov 10, 2015 at 2:35am

jeffhandy said:
If we really want to FIX elections then we need to get Jeb! into office, he has experience.
As for forcing people to go vote, I don't have a problem with it so long as you have an option to check a box that says "None of the Above".

You always have that option. Go into the booth and not vote for a particular office. The "undervotes" are counted.

jeffhandy

Nov 10, 2015 at 3:57am

Doesn't have to be "none of the above", It could also be a selection that says "I think that they are all corrupt but I showed up so you don't fine me". The point being that millions don't vote because they are convinced that their one vote won't make a difference. They still have an opinion but just don't want to deal with the hassle which in many neighborhoods can mean hours of waiting. But if they have to show up they more than likely will make a selection for the candidate that they are hoping wins the election.

PVW

Nov 17, 2015 at 6:28am

On the importance of voting, another data point is the fact that rich people vote in greater numbers than everyone else. They, at least, seem to believe that voting matters.

Here, for example, is data from the 2010 elections:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2010/tables.html

(search for "Reported Voting and Registration of Family Members, by Age and Family Income")

You can find similar data for other years as well. I haven't actually run the numbers, but eyeballing them it looks like there's a pretty strong positive correlation between income and your likelihood to vote.