Sept/Oct 2013
Neg: Decrease Quality of System
foundationbriefs.com
Page 65 of 104
Disenfranchisement as a Punishment Undermines Democracy JMR
Rovensky, Jan. Voting A Citizens Right, or Duty The Case against Compulsory Voting.
Guido Carli Free International University for Social Studies. 2007. Pg 95.
Another ghastly implication of a CV regime is disenfranchisement, as is the casein Belgium. Though admittedly the loss of one’s voting rights is not permanent, I still feel especially strong about this case because I cannot see how a democratic country could have such provisions when the right to vote should be sacrosanct. This is a direct violation of the right to vote, putting the nonvoter on par with convicted felons who in some states lose this right because of their crimes against the society. Trying to rebuff such a comment, as I suspect CV supporters would do, by stating that chronic nonvoters would not really care if they lost their right to vote is simply irrelevant, because their crime is not such as it requires the state to infringe on one of the basic political liberties an individual has within a democracy. I therefore find the following Birch’s (2007: 11) claim rather disturbing If voting is considered to be a civic duty, it would seem logical that nonvoters should have their civic rights restricted. The most obvious right to restrict is the right to vote itself I deeply question such logical thinking. How does the disenfranchisement of the nonvoter help the democratic system Is the system more democratic and healthier by actually curtailing the universal right to vote I seriously doubt this (Hill
(2002c: 4-5) also seems to argue against disenfranchisement.
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