August Tournament - Resolved: In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory

My thanks as well to 1harderthankyouthink for organizing this tournament, and to salam.morcos for taking me up on this debate.As stated, this round will be to write opening arguments.A1: Right to AbstainIn a democracy, the supreme power is vested in 'the people' through the right to vote, and one of the defining characteristics of a 'right' is that we are free to *not* exercise it. The right to bear arms cannot require us to buy a gun, just as the right to free speech cannot obligate us to speak our minds. All rights, by definition, come with a right to abstain from exercising them, so the fact that voting is a right makes the idea of a compulsory voting policy paradoxical. The key phrase in the definition of democracy is "free electoral system", which further supports that 'the people' should have the freedom to choose whether or not they want to exercise the power granted to them. In other words, compulsory voting is inherently anti-democratic, making the resolution impossible to affirm.A2: The Apathetic VoteAccording to Gallup Polling, 81% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the federal government is run in general, and only 39% of them align themselves with either the Democrat or Republican political parties [1][2]. Pew Research Center agreed with these results, placing the number of Americans who generally trust the government at just 24% [3]. The point is that even in stable and relatively prosperous democracies like the United States, political apathy and antiestablishmentarianism are rampant, and it can be assumed that a significant portion of people who abstain from voting do so because they actively desire not to participate in politics [4]. In order for a democracy to truly be democratic, it should be able to account for these people and allow them to express their voices by not voting for anyone. Compulsory voting denies them this, which, again, renders it to be an anti-democratic policy.A3: Rational VotersSuccessful theoretical models of democracy utilize the concept of the "rational voter", assuming that the voting population is made of well-informed & educated people who are committed to choosing the leader they believe will best govern the country. In a voluntary democracy, the voters actually want to vote (obviously, since they are taking the time to do so), and are therefore likely to be "rational voters". However, by making voting compulsory, the government is forcing hoards of new people to vote - new people who would otherwise not have voted. The fact that they would not have voted without being forced to probably means that they have not done their 'homework' as voters (i.e. following politics, learning about 'big issues', informing themselves about various candidates' platforms, etc), and don't care enough about voting to bother putting much thought into casting their ballot; in other words, they are highly unlikely to be "rational voters". Compulsory voting can only reduce the proportion of "rational voters" in the voting population, thus rendering it to be detrimental to the well-being of any democracy.~ Counter Plan ~I propose that instead of making voting compulsory, the government should make "Election Day" a National Holiday and take measures to simplify the voter registration process. According to survey data from various sources, the two biggest reasons for not voting (after political apathy) are a lack of time and the registration process being too long and difficult [4][5][6]. It is fairly obvious how the counter-plan would solve for both of those voting impediments... This plan is superior to a compulsory voting policy because it still significantly increases voter-turnout while avoiding all the harms of CV:(1) avoids introducing too many non-rational voters into the voting population (because it's still voluntary)(2) allows politically apathetic people to express their voice by abstaining from voting, and (3) respects the autonomy of 'the people' by letting them choose whether or not to exercise their democratic power Thank you. 1. http://www.gallup.com...2. http://www.gallup.com...3. http://www.people-press.org...4. http://www.theatlantic.com...5. http://usgovinfo.about.com...6. http://www.zencollegelife.com...