Resolved: In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory

“Even though more than half of all citizens in the world are currently able to exercise the right to elect their leaders, many of them choose not to vote. This article considers the role of compulsory voting in order to enhance the democratic values of political participation and equality. Raising turnout considerably, it [compulsory voting] is an effective instrument to motivate citizens to express their voice in public life, thereby ensuring that their concerns will be heeded. Opponents of compulsory voting, however, argue that it is undesirable because it violates the value of personal liberty and drags uninterested citizens to the polls. This article tries to rebut these arguments and challenge their underlying concept of democracy. As compulsory voting sends the message that every vote matters, it is able to restore rather than harm democracy and its values.

Acta Politica (2007) 42, 23–39. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ap.5500167

Keywords: compulsory turnout; compulsory voting; political participation; turnout; political equality”

This means that by making voting compulsory, not only will turn outs raise considerably but compulsory voting helps prompt the people to express their voices in public life hence confirming that their concerns will be heeded which results in the enhancement of the democracy. Compulsory Voting also gives a clear message to the people that every vote matters and can, again, restore democracy and its values rather than harm. This ties back to my value by making voting mandatory for citizens, citizens will have their chance to receive political equality. They will be able to voice their preferred government leaders and choose who will be representing them and leading them, rather than depending on others and their choices of government leaders. That way, all the people have a say in who gets to lead them and gets to represent them, not just a few.

Contention 2: Compulsory Voting will increase voting turnouts and solve low voting turnout problems

LIJPHART 14 [Arend Lijphart, Political Scientist. Unequal Participation: Democracy's Unresolved Dilemma Presidential Address, American Political Science Association. https://www.cambridge.org/ August 2014 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/unequal-participation-democracys-unresolved-dilemma-presidential-address-american-political-science-association-1996/FB743AB4AEBB70C9363A9F8B898A17BC]

“Low voter turnout is a serious democratic problem for five reasons: (1) It means unequal turnout that is systematically biased against less well-to-do citizens. (2) Unequal turnout spells unequal political influence. (3) U.S. voter turnout is especially low, but, measured as percent of voting-age population, it is also relatively low in most other countries. (4) Turnout in midterm, regional, local, and supranational elections—less salient but by no means unimportant elections—tends to be especially poor. (5) Turnout appears to be declining everywhere. The problem of inequality can be solved by institutional mechanisms that maximize turnout. One option is the combination of voter-friendly registration rules, proportional representation, infrequent elections, weekend voting, and holding less salient elections concurrently with the most important national elections. The other option, which can maximize turnout by itself, is compulsory voting. Its advantages far outweigh the normative and practical objections to it.”
This means that because of low voting turnouts, there are a lot of problems that happen in a democracy. Lijphart, in his article “Unequal Participation: Democracy's Unresolved Dilemma Presidential Address”, mentions five but there is a plethora of problems that uprise when qualified voters pull a no show. The fix for this, as Lijphart says, is compulsory voting. And the pros of compulsory voting outweigh the cons. By making voting mandatory, the problems of democracy caused by low voting turnouts will be fixed because requiring citizens to vote will cause a higher turnout as can be seen by Engelen 07. This can tie back to my value by making citizens obliged to vote, the problem of unequal political influence will be mended. This is because without compulsory voting, there will most likely be more people of one party who shows up during an election, be it Republican or Democratic. So, with more people who are of one party, the candidate who is running that is in that party will most likely be voted. This would result in the other party who did not have as much turnout be underrepresented and the people of the inferior party would not have political equality. But with compulsory voting, everyone will get a fair say and everyone will be able to receive political equality.

Contention 3: Compulsory voting will allow everyone to have an equal chance to speak up and be heard

Due to the low turnouts on Election Day, not everyone’s voice is being heard by government officials.