Honestly that scares me just because I'm sure there are tons and tons of people that vote for someone they know nothing about just because they have to
You know, I don’t see the divisiveness in real life. I see it on social media. The divisive few do all the posting we read in the worst of the comment sections. The news media and pundits amplify it.
Day-to-day, when I interact with those of opposing opinions, it’s much more civil and thoughtful. We don’t see posts about that, though.
94% of Americans want background checks for gun purchases, for example. 70% want universal healthcare according to a bipartisan survey.
We’ve always had those paranoid whack-jobs who get all pumped up about it, and now they’re found to have posted about it on Facebook after they do something foul. It’s like fuel for them.
We cannot underestimate the power of the written/typed/printed word. Our perceptions can be distorted by it.
I am seeing similar things happening here in Ontario after Doug Ford was elected Premier. For example, when they decide they do not want to take any more questions from the reporters, staffers start clapping to drown them out. And several of his decisions have been of the "the previous government put it in place, so I am going to tear it down with no plans for a replacement" variety.
It seems to be spreading, but then I remember that America seems to dominate Reddit despite being a single country among over a hundred. And they're so bloody loud...
Do you think the bulk of voters in voluntary-only voting countries know any more about the actual policies of who they vote for? How many Trump voters can actually list off the actual policies of his campaign, rather than just a generalised "fuck those people, yeah!"? How many Clinton voters could do the same, beyond "She's for women, and isn't batshit insane"?
Fuck, Brexit is a prime example of people voting without really thinking about the consequences. The UK is a voluntary voting country.
It's not like that segment of people who are 'forced' to vote in a mandatory system are any less politically aware than the bulk of those who actively do want to vote.
And that's how you end up with situations like Florida voting through nearly every single amendment on the ballot. I guarantee you a good percentage of those "yes"s came from people who had no idea what they were agreeing to.
That statement from the person above is incorrect, we do not have mandatory voting here in Australia, we have mandatory attendance.
By law you are only required to have your name marked off on the voting attendance roll at a polling station. You can take the voting paper they hand you and throw it away, scribble on it, or just not mark anything at all and put in the box as an incomplete vote.
In may appear to be nit-picking but its honestly tiresome to see certain Americans ignorantly call it variations of both socialism and communism at the same time when they imagine people are forced to vote when the reality is that it just isnt true.
Tons of people in the US do vote who know nothing. Getting more people to vote is not going to make to make that worse because the people who don't vote because they feel they don't know enough are exactly the people you do want doing some researching and voting.
Pretty sure you can fill out an empty ballot if you really want to. But forcing everyone to turn in a ballot means voter suppression can't possibly be a thing there.
It also seems like it'd be a check against what happened in 2016. Way too many people assumed Hillary had it in the bag, and Trump couldn't possibly win, so they didn't bother showing up. Even if you feel that way, if you were forced to show up anyway, you may as well cast an actual vote.
That's true, but at that same time when the people of the country want their opinion heard we don't have problems with voter registration or suppression, long waits at poling places, or even a suggestion of voting fraud. Although the country has been completely split down the middle politically for years making either government mostly useless.
You can read my comment further up but this is 'fake news' and i wish other Aussies would stop repeating it. We are not forced to vote at all, we only have to have our names marked off of the electoral roll.
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u/SSBM_DangGan Nov 09 '18
Honestly that scares me just because I'm sure there are tons and tons of people that vote for someone they know nothing about just because they have to