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I do not think voting should be mandatory. Part of the reason why America is so great is because its citizens have the right and the decision to choose what their voice says. Not voting is part of that voice. However, I do believe many people need to be more educated about how our government works and just how important voting is. If people are forced to vote their votes will become careless.

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I think that voting should be mandatory because it would help us understand what citizens really want. Australia made voting mandatory after 1922 and the voter turnout climbed from less than 60% to around 95%. Voting is the basic building block of this democracy, it what makes our voices heard. I do not think we should have harsh penalties for people who do not vote but maybe a small fine. There should be exceptions to this law however if you are ill or traveling during the election you should not be penalized for not voting. Voting is what lets politicians know what we want.

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No voting should not be mandatory.  Everyone has the right to say and do what they believe. If they choose to vote then they will vote, but they should not be forced to vote. Yes the voter turnout would be higher, but you yourself are the one who should choose to vote or not. I feel as if people were forced to vote they may just use a straight ticket where they would just choose whatever and it may not be very accurate.  If people didn't vote what would happen to them, would they be forced to pay a fine for not voting? If a citizen does not want to vote then they do not have to vote. As a citizen you have the freedom of choice so voting should not be mandatory.

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No, voting should not be mandatory. Although it would be nice to have a high voter turnout, it is our right to vote or not vote. Forcing people to vote would go against our freedoms as American citizens. Making voting mandatory takes away our freedom to choose. The votes may not be an accurate representation of how the people feel due to some voting carelessly just because they have to.

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In my opinion voting should not be mandatory. The reason the United States "works" is because it gives citizens a choice as to whether or not they want to be included in things like voting. Forcing someone to vote goes against everything the U.S. stands for. If the government starts being forceful with one thing they could potentially be forceful with a lot more things. Eventually the government would be more like dictatorship than a democracy.

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No, voting should not be mandatory. If a citizen wants to vote for the person who runs the country, then they will. People should not be forced to vote if they do not want to, are uneducated about the candidates and their views, or if they do not agree with either of the candidates. If voting would be mandatory, that would take away the freedom of the people. Even though it would make the voting turnouts greater, there is a good chance that the votes will not be genuine, and that could cause the election to go in a way that it would not if only the people who wanted to vote were voting.

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No, voting should not be mandatory. Making voting mandatory would obviously increase the rate of voting, but that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing. People would not only "protest vote", but they might actually protest. Also, it is your right as a citizen to not vote. So, all in all, mandatory voting would have bad outcomes involving lots of protests and very inaccurate results.

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I do not believe that voting should be mandatory. Making it mandatory takes away from the idea of "freedom." But, I do believe that people should be more involved, considering only about half of eligible voters actually vote. he point of our democracy is to give all citizens a voice. Not voting also kind of defeats the purpose of freedom, too. There are plenty of people in foreign countries who wish they had the same rights as citizens in the United States do. So, although I do believe voting is an important factor in our democracy, I do not think it should be forced upon the American people.

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No, voting should not be mandatory. By making it mandatory it takes away the idea of freedom. Each person should have the right to decide whether they want to vote for the person running the nation, and should not be forced to. Also, making people vote may cause issues such as protest voting, or simply them protesting against voting all together. Although the number of voters would obviously rise, I believe that making citizens to vote would just cause more trouble than it would fix.

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Voting should not be mandatory. People should be able to choose whether or not they want to vote, and if they choose not to, then they are just practicing the freedom that they are given as U.S. citizens. If it was mandatory, there would be too many people who would go and vote carelessly, without even knowing who they are really voting for. Even though there would be a lot more people voting, the election would not be very accurate. It is more accurate right now, even though there is a smaller voter turnout, the people who actually do make the effort to go and vote care about what happens in the election and know the candidates and issues they are voting for or against.

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Voting definitely should not be mandatory. That kind of defeats the whole freedom of voting. If people are forced to vote, chances are a lot of people will end up voting for the first person they see on the screen just because they want to get it over with as fast as they can. I think half the reason a lot of people don't vote is that they distrust our electoral system as a whole, especially after the 2000 election. If we want to increase voter turnout, we should seriously thing about abolishing the electoral college.

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Voting should be mandatory because it would ensure that no presidential race would be extremely close due to the poor amount of people voting. In the 2000 Presidential election, the old ladies had no way of knowing whether a Florida resident voted for one candidate or another, due to their lack of strength using a hole puncher device.However, if voting was mandatory, it would not have mattered because everyone would be voting. So those few thousand people that were having issues would not have mattered in the end tally. They wold not have swayed the winner from one candidate to the other.

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Voting should be mandatory because it would make elections truly valid. Mandatory voting would reflect the will of all eligible voters. This would cause candidates to become more responsive to the eligible voters who are less likely to vote now such as poorer, younger and less educates citizens. Also, Americans would be more likely to pay attention to politics and understand the candidates and their issues which would lead to more accurate and informed voting. Since earlier generations fought for the right to vote, we should at least make it a mandatory responsibility.

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No, I believe voting should not be mandatory because as a US citizen we are grateful enough to have choices. By taking away that choice we are taking back what we have been establishing for years. If a citizen chooses to vote that is their choice. Making voting mandatory will only make the public not want to vote more and may even start a protest. Overall, making voting mandatory will only make more citizens not want to vote because it is putting pressure on them to give their opinion they have the right to share or not share.

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No, voting should not be mandatory in America. American citizens have many rights and freedoms, so they should have the right not to vote if they so choose. If they do decide to vote, they will have that option open to them, and they will vote for whoever they believe should be the next president. Also, if voting was legally required, many citizens could choose to protest vote and vote for a minor party, and it could be very hard to enforce the new voting laws.

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I think voting should not be mandatory. It is the citizen's decision whether or not they want to vote. Voting is a responsibility of a U.S. citizen, not a duty. Also, sometimes maybe they just do not like the candidates. Like for example, this election year a lot of people are choosing not to vote for the lesser of evil candidate. People may not want to support either of them. Therefore, it is their right not to vote.

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No, voting should not be mandatory. Although every citizen has the right to vote, they should not be forced to. Many people who would become angry at being forced to could just waste their vote and not vote for the candidates that would be the best for the country. That could throw off many elections, and the candidate who wins may not reflect the views of the voters who actually voted and cared about the outcome of the election. A higher voter turnout does not always guarantee the best results.