this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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"Non-voters" vote too. They vote for what everyone else chooses for them, then they complain when they don't get what they wanted.
They complain because, thanks to you and I, they can't afford to miss a day of work in order to vote, and that isn't changing no matter who we elect.
Here in Australia we have a public holiday for voting, mandatory voting, preferential voting, and every school, and hundreds of other community locations become polling locations. I can walk to 3 from my house in less than 10 minutes.
Why did Americans vote for the system they have? Americans voted for first past the post, gerrymandering, the right to throw away their only voice. That's not a great electoral system to vote for.
Canada requires employers to give a few hours to vote and also makes seemingly every school a polling station. Every time I've voted, the polling station was walking distance. Notably, though, we don't have mandatory voting. And our turnout is horrendous.
We were also going to have electoral reform, but it got canceled and so few people cared that the party that cancelled it got reelected. It's frustrating the level of apathy many Canadians have. Provincial elections are even worse, despite the fact that healthcare and housing are big, big issues that are under provincial jurisdiction.
I'll always support mandatory voting, the fine is $50 if you don't, but we get a day off, voting booths are close, we have pre-polling locations for a week beforehand, and nationally accessible postal voting, just for that added convenience. It really is more of a hassle to not vote than to vote and the process rarely takes long.
When your system is built around mandatory voting it becomes mandatory to make it easy to vote.
And you're right, apathy is a problem, but it's a carrot and stick problem with plenty of viable solutions. You tell someone they have to have an opinion or lose $50 they can come up with one pretty easily. Then it becomes an education problem.
But those trying to subvert power don't want fair elections where every voter has to give their 2c, or $50, whichever the case may be, because every non-voter is already on their team, they just have to win the rest.