Should Voting Be Mandatory in the U.S.?

I’ve learned from some Brazilians that voting is mandatory in their country –- that’s right, you must vote in Brazil if you are at least 18 years old. Imagine the look of horror on one Brazilian’s face when I told him that not only do millions of Americans not vote, but millions are also not even registered to vote. His look said, “Why, that is a disgrace!” I think he’s right.

The battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have inspired many unregistered people in this country to not only register but to exercise their right to vote.

Whatever the outcome of the Primary election might be, I say Obama and Clinton deserve credit for getting younger people, African-Americans, and others to express themselves politically.

If voting were mandatory for all citizens in America who are 18 years old and older, how would that change the look of Congress, the White House, and our state and local governments? I wonder, would we see more women, African-Americans, Latinos Asians, disabled and handicapped representatives?

Here’s part of a post by a Washington state resident, Bill Center, who visited Brazil less than 2 years ago. He talks about the effect of mandatory voting in that country:

We were in Brazil during the final weeks of the election campaign. The race for President is closer than anticipated and seems to be drawing a lot of attention from the citizens. In Brazil every citizen is a voter. Voting is "mandatory."
Interesting idea.

Technically there can be serious penalties for failing to vote, including loss of government pension. In reality the serious penalties are seldom imposed. Most often there is a fine equal to about $1US. It hardly seems necessary as most people appear to view voting as a serious responsibility.

President Lula — who rose from poverty himself — is very popular with the poorer classes because of the social programs he has implemented. Even so, his reelection is in some jeopardy because of recent scandals involving some of his top aides. His challenger is the Governor of the State of Sao Paulo [population 40 million!]. Under Brazilian law, he had to give up the governorship to run for president.


Even the corruption scandals are "interesting" in Brazil. Most of them involve bribes paid to members of the legislature from different political parties to support Lula. Oh, yes … did I mention there are 45 or so political parties.

As you might imagine, in such a system party loyalty is a light and transient thing. Candidates may run for office representing one party and change parties the day after they are elected. So the system does have some challenges. Proposed reforms include reducing the number of parties to fifteen and making it harder to change parties.

Occasionally the "white votes" – that is ballots cast to meet the voting requirement with no candidate marked – actually total more than 50% of the vote.

That got me thinking.

I kinda like the idea of "mandatory" voting. I think freedom and responsibility go hand-in-hand, and there is no greater responsibility in a democracy than voting. That is how we come to SHARE responsibility for the government we elect. Under our present system we can end up with leaders who not only receive less than a majority of the total votes cast … the votes they do receive can actually represent but a small fraction of those ELIGIBLE to vote.

One of my rules for life: "Vote or keep quiet."I would be in favor of mandatory voting in the U.S. if we added the choice of "none of the above" to the ballot. In any race where "none of the above" received more than 50% of the vote the parties would be required to put forth an entire new slate of candidates. Failed candidates would be barred from the ballot for two years.

I don't expect it to happen. But it is an interesting example of how travel can expand your view of what might be possible.

Click here to read U.S. Census figures on voter turnout numbers in the 2004 presidential election in the U.S.