Mandatory Voting

Without further ado, my arguments will be the following. I. The Uniformed PublicII. Freedom of Choice and SpeechIII. Universal Declaration of Human Rights***I. The Uniformed PublicOne of the most popular arguments for compulsory voting is in relation to the low voter turnout in America. In fact, only 57.5% of Americans voted in the 2012 Presidential Election. [1] However, voter turnout isn't the worst problem, but it's more about the uniformed voters. In 2015, Just Facts conducted a 23 question poll about issues such as education, healthcare, taxes, government spending, global warming, Social Security, energy, hunger, pollution, and the national debt. The average American got a mere five questions correct. [2] This proves that the average voter won't take the time to learn about these issues. Now let's take a look at the unregistered voters and how they fare out. In another survey conducted by Pew Research Center, they found out the demographics of who votes, who doesn't, and why they do/don't vote. In the survey, they recorded the most popular reasons why non-voters fail to register. Quite a few answers had to do with apathy, those being 'Don't care about politics' (14%), 'no confidence in the government' (12%), 'no point I'm voting' (3%), 'laziness' (2%), and 'don't understand politics' (2%). [3] "The survey also reveals broad differences between those who are not registered to vote and regular or occasional voters. Non-voters are politically estranged: They are the least interested in local politics of the four groups and the most likely to say voting doesn’t change things. " [3] In turn, if you make voting compulsory, then those who previously didn't vote will most likely blindly follow a candidate because they're less informed than those who do vote. You can try to make voting mandatory, but you can't insure that the public will be informed with accurate information. So why possibly increase the amount of apathy voters would have when election season comes around? It wouldn't be worth the higher voter turnout. II. Freedom of Choice and Speech"The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. " [4] This is the 26th amendment, one that grants anyone over the age of 18 the right to vote, as long as you register of course. Also, I'd argue that the first amendment can stand against compulsory voting. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. " [5]This begs the question: how? Well, in the first amendment, and in most other amendments really, we are granted rights, we aren't forced to abide by them. This relates back to the right to vote. While you can't be denied the right to vote by the government, you can simply choose not to exercise your rights. They aren't being taken, you just refuse to acknowledge them. For example, we as Americans have the freedom of speech, but one can choose not to speak. This technically relates to the freedom of speech, as make a conscious decision not to speak falls under freedom of speech. The same example can be used for the right to vote. In turn, making voting compulsory is unconstitutional. And besides, America was founded as a nation where we can make our own choices in life and they'd be respected, so long as it doesn't bring direct harm to others. III. Universal Declaration of Human RightsAs if the violation of The Constitution wasn't enough, compulsory voting also violates Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created the United Nations. "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. "[6]So by making voting compulsory, you're taking away a person's political freedom. This is against their human rights, as stated above. ConclusionTo end this, I say that compulsory voting isn't needed for our government. By making it mandatory, you're increasing the amount of uninformed voters, you're taking away their freedom of choice and speech, and you're violating one of their human rights: political freedom. Thank you. ***Citations[1]. http://www.statisticbrain.com...[2]http://www.theblaze.com...[3]http://www.people-press.org...[4]http://constitutioncenter.org...[5]https://www.law.cornell.edu...[6]http://www.un.org...