President Obama suggests mandatory voting in the U.S.

Zerrick Hilliard
MC301 Contributor/Staff

During a recent press conference featured on CNN, President Barack Obama suggested that it may be time for mandatory voting in the United States to combat all time low voting turnouts in recent years.

“It would counteract money more than anything,” said President Obama in the press conference, referring to large role that money often plays in election season.

Although the idea of compulsory voting would be new to the United States, it has been a concept already used in many places around the world. According to International Institute for Democratic Electoral Assistance, some of the first countries to introduce a mandatory voting system were Belgium in 1892, Argentina in 1914, and Australia in 1924. The latter of which was noted as an example by Obama in his speech.

The study by IDEA states that supporters of mandatory voting claim that the system is beneficiary to both voters and political parties because voting, voluntarily or otherwise, has an educational effect upon the citizens. Political parties can derive financial benefits from compulsory voting, since they do not have to spend resources convincing the electorate that it should in general turn out to vote.

IDEA statistics also show that even in countries with mandatory voting, turnout has been in decline like the U.S., despite many of these countries having some consequences for not voting. Since 2000, voting turnouts in either system have been on steady decline.

Both current and former students of Jackson State University see both sides of issue.

Monica Atkins, 2012 graduate of JSU, thinks that mandatory voting would ensure that the political voice of all citizens is heard, especially in the African-American community.

“It would force an awakening because if it becomes mandatory, more people will take it more seriously and do more research on who they’re voting for,” said Atkins.

Atkins sees a compulsory voting system manageable even though the system would conflict with the cultural influence on individual action.

Opponents to compulsory voting believe that it will punish those who have made the decision not to vote.

Brandon Theodore, senior accounting major does not believe the system would make any positive change in the country.

“It’s a waste of money going into keeping up with who votes and who doesn’t. I don’t see it being positive. If someone doesn’t want to vote, that’s their choice,” said Theodore.