Just a thought: How about we nix Presidents’ Day and make Election Day a national holiday instead?
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@peterbrown @benroyce @nuintari @Strandjunker I periodically suggesting using "percentage of the population who vote" as a measure of how democratic a country is.
By that measure the US falls from "at risk democracy" to "somewhat democratic", but amusingly Aotearoa with optional voting matches Australia with compulsory because it lets more people vote.
It's contentious because to most people not letting everyone vote is just obvious common sense
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@Strandjunker or you could vote on Saturday or Sunday like the rest of the civilised world
@xgebi @Strandjunker Except, they don't usually have the sunday off ... like (most of) the rest of the world.... mh
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@peterbrown @benroyce @nuintari @Strandjunker I can't believe that you have to register to vote, and that you have to keep checking if you are still registered to vote!
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@peterbrown @benroyce @nuintari @Strandjunker I can't believe that you have to register to vote, and that you have to keep checking if you are still registered to vote!
@rhempel @peterbrown @nuintari @Strandjunker
that's called voter suppression. "register to vote" is indeed an artificial hoop we have to jump through
combined with other voter suppression methods we see republicans winning by tiny fractions in some elections that would otherwise go the other way. some obvious big elections come to mind
the problem to me though is how many americans don't know/ don't care about what is being done to them, or even cynically giving up and accepting their abuse
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@xgebi @Strandjunker Except, they don't usually have the sunday off ... like (most of) the rest of the world.... mh
@hackbyte @Strandjunker so they can schedule it on both days of the weekend with long hours. Oh, wait, that would be communism if everyone was encouraged and enabled to go vote.
I rest my case and stay on my side of the border.
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@peterbrown @benroyce @nuintari @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
Which difficulty is reflected in very low turnout rates — we haven’t had turnout (presidential elections) over 63% in over 100 years; midterms average about 40%. -
Meh, people voting who have no clue who to vote for will just go where the wealthy pay to lead them. Some boring rich white man with a pasty fake smile and a perfect family... again.
CC: @nuintari@bsd.cafe @Strandjunker@mstdn.socialI'd like to improve education, and access to voting. Anyone preventing it from being easy and quick is an enemy of democracy. Your curmudgeonly boss loses his right to exist card when he grumpily coincidentally makes it so you don't have time to vote. But that includes learning about the candidates, and spending time attacking the people publishing fraudulent propaganda. And also limiting campaign contributions. If we can guarantee all that, then maybe democracy stands a chance.
Whether the vote is mandatory doesn't seem like... as much of a big deal. Sure go ahead I don't think it'll change things much, but if voting is accessible and easy, then there's no problem making people do it. Maybe it's a chicken and egg thing?
CC: @nuintari@bsd.cafe @Strandjunker@mstdn.social @benroyce@mastodon.social -
@stib @benroyce @nuintari @Strandjunker I will add that the situation is similar in Thailand. They have mandatory voting also, a similar turn out and everything.
Thailand did have a major problem with bribery in voting (yes, there were/are arseholes rich enough to bribe the majority of an electorate). Always was illegal, but ways were found. I'd wonder if the case isn't the same in the USA these days. This seems to have mostly been fixed in Thailand after a secession of military coups, an unfortunate path to where they are today.
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i used to disagree
that if you make voting mandatory, people will draw dicks on their ballot or do joke votes
and you do see that in places where voting is mandatory
but i've changed my view
you can't force people to care, yes
but enough say they "care" but then won't do fucking shit to prove it in an extremely effective way: by voting
so now i think getting enough of those lazy entitled assholes off their asses and voting outweighs the sabotage/ vandalism effect
@benroyce @nuintari @Strandjunker Mandatory voting is less to get people who won't vote to do so, but more to get those who would suppress the vote to fuck off forever.
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@peterbrown @benroyce@mastodon.social @nuintari @Strandjunker
"Having to travel long distances and then having to queue for long periods to vote."
Just FYI, that happens, but it's not typical. My polling place is on my street and there are usually few other voters there when I show up (which is a different problem). -
@peterbrown @benroyce @nuintari In recent years Michigan has gone all-in on making it *easier* to vote. E.g. at every interaction w/ the state, you'll be asked if you want to register to vote. (Also no-reason absentee ballots, etc.) Trump's DOJ launched a bogus investigation on grounds there were "too many" registered voters. No, this is what it looks like when the gov't *wants* people to vote! But Republicans hate that.
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@twobiscuits @benroyce @peterbrown @nuintari @Strandjunker That's pretty much how it works in Canada here - you get mail at your home address that says you are registered and you bring that and an ID and vote. It's not that hard.
Anything else is open to abuse and voter suppression, which I suspect has more impact than voter fraud ...
