In a Democracy, Voting ought to be Compulsory. (LD Debate)

Plato, the man who was considered the most influential philosopher of all times, once stated, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” It is because I agree that voting is so essential to establishing effective government that I support the resolution, Resolved: In a democracy voting ought to be compulsory.Before I proceed to my arguments I’d like to define a couple of words in the resolution. According to Oxford Dictionaries, Democracy means a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Voting is to register a vote. Finally, Compulsory means to be required by the law. Therefore, the resolution clearly holds that I successfully argue for mandatory voting in democracies. In this debate, if I am able to convince you that democracies should adopt this guideline, you should vote for the affirmative. My VALUE, or weighing mechanism of this round, is PROGRESS. This means that mandatory voting would improve America’s democracy and its voting issues. Contention 1: Successful Mandatory Voting in Other CountriesAccording to THE NEWS (February 4, 2013), currently, 31 countries have compulsory voting, and yet, in countries like Australia, they didn’t have any revolts or serious problems with mandatory voting. In fact, voter participation has increased remarkably, along with the general awareness of the Australian citizenry. On the other hand, the turnout rates of voting in the U.S. are rapidly decreasing, and the only way to increase the amount of votes is to implement compulsory voting. According to Keith Olbermann from Salon Articles (November 5, 2002), 50% of voter participation doesn’t make a democracy; mandatory voting is essential in the United States. If half of the citizens refused to vote, America wouldn’t be a democracy at all- it would just be a really large oligarchy. Contention 2: Compulsory Voting Improves DemocracyAccording to Arend Lijphart, research professor of Political Science at University of California, low turnout is a serious threat to democracy because it distorts political influence, harms less “well-off” citizens, and destroys local governance. Compulsory voting is the best solution to overcome these problems. Yes, there are several other solutions such as infrequent elections, but compulsory voting, itself, can maximize turnout. Its advantages far outweigh the normative and practical objections to it.Also, compulsory voting is the only way to ensure that every voice, even those who are least the least privileged, are heard and acknowledged in shaping political outcomes. The research assistant of the Fund for Scientific Research, ACTA POLITICA (2007), Bart Engelen explained that low turnout provides a reason for worrying, and compulsory voting is the utmost solution. “Understanding turnout as a measure of political participation, I have argued that low turnout provides a reason for worrying. Because compulsory voting raises turnout considerably, it is able to enhance the democratic values of political participation, representativeness and equality. The notion of democracy implied in this view is well-founded in the practices and theories of democracy: ‘democracy is universally understood as a form of government involving ‘rule by the people’, which has essentially been its meaning since the term and practice were introduced’ (Dahl, 2001, 3405). In this respect, I have argued that compulsory voting sends a powerful signal to the people that each and every vote matters and thus motivates citizens to participate in the democratic system, thereby ensuring that the concerns of every citizen, including the least well-off, are heeded at the political level.” Contention 3: Mandatory Voting Works and Helps to Improve the Government.The most decisive way for preventing turnout decline is compulsory voting: in fact, it is the only way that can cause turnout to rise anywhere near 95%. Research (from New York Times, November 7, 2011) shows that countries with mandatory voting also have less wealth inequality, less possibility of political corruption, and higher levels of satisfaction with the way democracy is working. Lisa Hill, a professor of politics at the University of Adelaide, Australia, said, “ Here in Australia, where we love freedom as much as anyone else, we have a mandatory voting regime that is well managed, corruption-free, easy to access, cheap to run and has an approval rating of more than 70 percent.”Judge(s), let me ask you: is voting just a right or is it also a duty? Democratic citizens owe it to each other to vote so that, together, they can constitute democracy and collectively enjoy the benefits of living in properly functioning democratic society where everyone counts.Thank You.