Fact checking

[Damian Gerow]

Thus spake Justin (justin-cypherpunks at soze.net) [28/04/04 15:41]:
: > Damian Gerow wrote:
: > >I don't see any way to educate the mass public.
: > 
: > Indeed, why bother? How about a system that removes your right to vote
: > if you haven't exercised it in the last 3 elections?
: 
: Requiring that adults vote is a terrible idea.  While being deathly ill
: or otherwise unable to vote for three consecutive federal elections is
: extremely unlikely, the fact remains that failure to vote is not
: indicative of lack of desire to vote.

Proxy vote.  I did it for two 'invalid' relatives this year.

Besides, this isn't requiring them to vote.

: The above proposal only requires 33% turnout among current non-voters.
: While that's certainly an "improvement" (by your metric), it doesn't
: resolve the core issues.

Not in the first year, no.  And not in the second year, nor in the third.
But in the fourth, you'll see a drastic drop in the number of apathetic
voters -- the ones who don't care.

What this /won't/ have an effect on is mis-informed voting.  People who vote
because they've been paid to do so, or because some other influencing
factor(s) got the voters out there, aside from knowing the candidates and
voting for the one you honestly believe will do the best job.

: If not voting is the sin you seek to prevent, why settle for 33 percent?
: If it is dumb voters you're trying to eliminate, requiring them to drive
: their dumb asses to the polls isn't going to make then any smarter or
: more informed.  It might even increase stupid voting patterns by
: encouraging dumb people to form cliques.  They won't want to appear dumb
: to their friends as a result of voting for the "wrong person," and
: groupthink is bad for elections.

Australia has mandatory voting.  I think that's what you're arguing against
-- this is essentially a way to say, "I'd rather not vote" by not actually
doing anything.  It's perfect for the already lazy and apathetic folks.  It
forces nobody's hand, places no undue expectations on anyone, and doesn't
bend the rules of democracy.  It simply says that if you don't want to vote,
fine, we just won't include you in the valid voters list.

: > Make sure there's a handy "abstain" option for those who want to get
: > the point across about lack of choice, and maybe a space to say why,
: > too.  Then stick the (anonymous) reasons up in a publicly-viewable
: > space and eh, instant feedback.
: 
: There is an abstention option.  The poll administrator checks off your
: name when you show up, so someone knows that you "voted."  You don't
: have to choose anyone on your ballot.  You can either toss it in the
: garbage on your way out, or draw pictographs derogatory to politicians
: on non-critical areas of the ballot before feeding it to the
: fiber-starved voting machine.

AFAIK, you can't toss your ballot out in Canada.  And there's a certain way
to mark it to 'abstain' -- not just drawing cartoons on it.