Compulsory voting can reduce political polarization in the US, study finds

phys.org

11 points·PaulHoule··5 comments

Given the current SCOTUS view on gerrymandering, judicial oversight of voting laws, etc, it's very difficult for me to believe that mandatory voting is constitutional.

In a functioning system it wouldn't matter, the Constitution would be amended to enforce mandatory voting. Unfortunately, the document has become an object of reverence rather than a mechanism for change. In the current political climate of the US, the will to pass an amendment is effectively nil.

Voting should be compulsory in my opinion and I don't really care all that much for politics.

Here in Australia it is and it's a fairly normal thing to do and because it's mandatory you don't just have people that are mad about or have the most extremist ideas going to vote.

Voting should be mandatory, the person sitting at the top step should be there based on the votes of the people and those people should be voting. Regardless of how the vote has been cast in their minds.

It's not a question of are you going to vote but who are you voting for.

A country like the US that in my view is so patriotic and whose elections span the attention of the globe, it surprised me to see that voting wasn't mandatory.

That's probably because making participation in a specific political establishment compulsory is authoritarianism and it, by design, will face less vocal dissent

Polarization is in the interest of the politicians, the fundraisers, the lobbyists and far too many other grifters.

What would anyone ever think it's going to come to an end? It's not, you know.

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