I think that this is a great public forum topic: it relates to a current event that will educate students on some of the nuanc
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Lesson 4.2 Day 3
| 13NFL1-Compulsory Voting Page 13 of 163 www.victorybriefs.com could argue that this force of the state is solely deployed to uphold negative rights. For example, the right to life is commonly understood to be a natural right. The negative would want to explain that the obligation of the state is to protect that right from being violated, but it is not the source of said right. In the case of the resolution, the negative’s theory of state obligations would dictate that the state has an obligation to protect the right of the citizen to express their political will, but has no positive obligation to ensure that all citizens vote. Such a case lends itself to a strategically simple burden structure, in that the affirmative would have to demonstrate that ensuring voting deserves to be (or even can be) a positive right. Consequentialist Criticisms of Compulsory Voting Negatives across the board should be prepared to levy and/or all of the following accusations at compulsory voting Compulsory voting will decrease voter turnout because it will alienate those who fundamentally disagree with it. Compulsory voting will hurt the socioeconomically disadvantaged because polls generally aren’t open before or after the workday. Those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged tend to work many hours per week. The aff simply raises the stakes for not voting, either penalizing a poor group of people or increasing the risk of losing one’s job. Compulsory voting will lead to financial costs of implementation that will ultimately hurt the vulnerable sects of society by raising taxes. Counterplans It ain’t broke, you can still do it better. The negative has significant ground for counterplans with this resolution. Most notably, some literature suggests that increasing voter education has proven more effective than making voting compulsory. Less involved systems such as compulsory balloting may also provide significant negative ground for counterplans. Politics Disadvantages If justified theoretically, this topic seems to grant reasonable room for politics scenarios. The negative would have to argue that a theoretical comparison of making voting compulsory in a democracy warrants exploring the possibility of the US (or another country) enforcing such a law. |