Discussion: Voting-obligation or a choice?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

With it being election time coming up I've gotten into some discussions about whether voting is an obligation or a choice. In California voting age is 18, I don't know what age it is in other countries.

For those of you who have THE RIGHT to vote... do you see it as an obligation or a choice?

For those who do not have the right to vote does that bother you? Would you feel you'd like a choice to have the right to vote?


Do we have the right to choose to vote or choose to do nothing? If voting is considered a privilege then is it an obligation? Should voting be mandatory? If you have the right and don't use it, is it an abuse of the sacrifice people made to give you the right to vote? Do you feel your vote counts?

What's your thoughts?

[Balcan]

Voting exists to give people a voice, and it should absolutely be encouraged. For centuries, there have been kings, dictators, dynasties, and the like whose power was inherited or taken by force while common people had no say. Now your desires, beliefs, morals, opinions can be taken into consideration. It was a long arduous struggle to obtain voting rights, so why wouldn't you take advantage and exercise this right?

However the basis and foundation for ALL our rights...is FREEDOM. So you should be able to refuse the right to vote even if you are eligible,

There are many people who expect everyone else to do the voting because they feel their individual vote will not make a difference. But we are a collective, and if every person thinks they are not enough and nobody votes, then nothing at all is accomplished. If a candidate or party is unlikely to win, at least some chance exists if people participate. We need to understand that our strength is in unity.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

eloquently said Balcan

[Balcan]

Thank you. *bows*

On a related note...

Bernie Sanders supporters are upset because he lost the democratic primaries...meanwhile instead of voting for him they just made posts on social media about "feeling the Bern" and later used the excuse of "the system is rigged". His supporters are comprised mostly of younger college kids, of whom only a small fraction voted in the primaries. They don't understand that there is a process of multiple voting sessions that happen before we reach a presidential candidate. Either way, I don't think he would have won, but people didn't take nearly as much action voting as they did talking.

[galled]

I think once they allow online voting the demographics will change dramatically and slant towards younger voters.

[Akuyi]

I think once we have Online Voting the result will be even less representative because manipulation will become so much easier. Hacking will be a major problem of course, but also: who will stop your husband, parent, bullying neighbor or sect leader from standing right behind you while you're on your PC and telling you what to vote for?
Not to mention the authorities will be able to track back what you voted for later (whether they claim it to be anonymous or not, you can always track back something on the internet), so I think anonymity would be a problem, too. And even if it's not misused now or for the next ten years, I can't imagine that there will never come a point in time where they will misuse it.

[Bassy]

Hacking to make everyone vote for Trump, Hillary, or Bernie and it could be a mess to clean up and I think the ballots through going to a place is more secured. Even if you try to use your social, it can still get hacked and your ID is stolen.