Resolved: In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory

Observations OBV1: My opponent makes some very drastic changes to his arguments and his advocacy which are problematic. He proposes that people should be given the option to vote “undecided” or that they are not interested in voting. This negates his entire burden and ultimately costs him the entire debate which I will explain in more detail as I address each individual argument. OBV2: I think that it is necessary to reiterate the burdens here - so that voters and my opponent are aware of what they are. My opponent’s burden requires him to prove that the status quo should be changed and that compulsory voting should be implemented as opposed to the status quo. Since he proposes a change to the current system, it is evident that he must prove that a system of compulsory voting is preferable to a system of optional voting. Compulsory voting conflictions with free and fair elections Whilst free can mean “open”. The definition my opponent proposes creates similar complications to my original interpretation. An election that is “open” to the people means that it is an election that is “available” to the people [1]. Available (in the dative case) means “free to do something” [2] or “given the option to doing something” - thus both definitions ultimately lead to the same problems. Regarding undecided voters, my opponent claims that undecided voters should have a box to tick stating undecided or none of the above. This is a late plan initiated which is poor debate conduct since if I initiate a counterplan in the second round I can simply use it to refute your arguments unfairly. For example, on a debate regarding guns, the proponents of guns may argue that the US has a strong gun culture. If counterplans are allowed in late stages then the opponent can simply say that it would be done over a long period of time so the culture disturbance would be minimal. The opponent could then continue to do this for all of the arguments and the proponent has nothing left to argue since Con’s position is so distorted from the original advocacy that the debate is no longer on the subject of guns v no guns but it becomes a debate of semantics and shifts of advocacy's. Regardless, in this instance the counterplan is detrimental. It effectively makes compulsory voting pointless. Logically, all the people that will not vote, are not interested in voting or are undecided will just tick the box that states “none of the above” or “undecided”. This is virtually the same as my proposition. My opponent needs to state a reason as to why compulsory voting under this new plan is any different than the status quo in regards to elections. Take the following hypothetical scenario: there are 100 people in total. 30 want president A. 60 want president B. 10 are undecided. In the status quo The 30 people will vote president A, 60 will vote president B and the undecided members will not vote. Therefore, under the status quo president B would win the election. In my opponent’s counterplan. The 30 people would vote president A. The 60 would vote president B and the undecided would tick the undecided the box. President B would still win. The result will be completely unchanged. So I ask my opponent a very simple question: What makes his newly proposed system any better than the status quo. My opponent ignores the fact that I specifically sourced the claim that bandwagoning increases in places with compulsory voting so his objections are irrelevant. I acknowledge that bandwagoning occurs in both systems but bandwagoning is more frequent as a ration in systems of compulsory voting because there are more undecided voters and unsure voters who don’t know who to vote for, hence why they vote for the popular decision [3][4]. My opponent’s objections and proposed changes cost him the debate. They make his newly proposed system incredibly similar to the status quo and since my opponent needs to prove that his system of voting is superior to the status quo in order to win, he cannot win this debate, as none of his initial arguments attempt to support his specific system of voting. Human Rights I am not just referencing to human rights. I am referring to rights in the law and generic rights (such as freedom of choice). Furthermore, I am not talking about whether or not the United Nations are intervening in these situations (the UN are hardly stopping every single human rights violation). I cited the universal declaration of human rights and specifically quoted the areas in which human rights were violated. My opponent drops this and instead looks towards whether or not compulsory voting is being penalized by the UN which is faulty logic to use when addressing whether or not a human rights violation is occurring. There are many instances in which the UN acknowledges human rights violations but is unable to do anything about it due to the sheer number of violations that the UN is faced with on a regular basis [5]. This is a minor violation by the United Nation’s standards (but a violation, nevertheless) [6]. The evidence is clear. This is a human rights violation (as I have cited). My opponent fails to refute the quotes and attempts to show that this isn’t a violation through the fact that there has been no UN intervention. I have proven this claim to be irrelevant since the UN cannot and does not intervene with every violation and this is a minor point (as I have proven by citing the priorities of the UN from their official site). Participation in Civic Life Each of the 4 element are equal in value. Let us say that they are all worth 1 for simplicity. So if 3 of these work in my favor and 1 works in my opponent’s then this point works in my favor since I have a clear majority. My opponent is correct in stating that his argument fulfills this one point however his burden is in direct contradiction with the rest (particularly A and C). In addition to this, my burden also fulfills the point that my opponent speaks of. Note how the requirement does not say ALL the people. This is because it simply needs active participation from people within society. Under the status quo this clearly happens and so this point works in my favor too. Thank you once again Seagull for your round, and I hand it back over to you. The resolution is negated. Sources [1] http://dictionary.cambridge.org... [2] https://www.google.co.uk... [3] http://www.theatlantic.com... [4] https://nyuad.nyu.edu... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org... [6] http://www.un.org...