Three reasons why it's bad Americans don't have to vote in their elections
Here’s some facts:
Donald Trump won the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the support of 26.3% of all adult Americans.
The highest number of eligible voters actually voting in a modern U.S. presidential election is just 62%
The poorer you are, the less likely you are to vote in the U.S.
The younger you are, the less likely you are to vote in the U.S.
If you are a person of clour, you are less likely to vote in the U.S.
Voluntary voting is really, really bad and you should be grateful everyday Australia doesn’t have it.
Here’s why.
Voluntary voting is a massive waste of money
In Australia, you know pretty much everyone is going to vote, so you don’t need to spend any money persuading your base to actually go to the polls. In the U.S., you need to motivate your base somehow - and that means you’re rewarded a lot more for putting more money into election campaigns.
In 2016, roughly $3.6 billion was spent by candidates and parties in the U.S. presidential election. In Australia that same year, roughly $80 million was spent on the federal election.
Voluntary voting means policies that ignore vulnerable people
Parties and candidates will always try to find the easiest way to receive the most number of votes. In a voluntary voting system, that means if your cohort doesn’t vote, parties are less likely to care about you. In the U.S., older people are three times more likely than young people to vote. Studies show the poorer you are the less likely you are to vote. African Americans and Hispanic Americans don’t vote as much as white Americans.
Parties and candidates have an incentive to put policies in place that get them votes. If young, Black and poor Americans don’t vote, then voluntary voting means policies that are worse for them.
Voluntary voting means extreme views get more airtime
“You have a kind of reinforcement where politicians appeal to more ideologically inspired voters, who then reinforce politicians who respond to them… It’s not easy to interrupt a vicious cycle. It’s one of the hardest things to do in life - and certainly in politics.”
William Galston, Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute and a professor of political science.