This November marks yet another midterm election, and if history proves anything, only a minute number of people will turn out to practice their democratic rights.
As a country that not only relies on the participation of its citizens to run but also fought to allow us to do so, it should be every citizen’s responsibility to participate.
A high of 56.8 percent in the turn out of the voting-age population in the last two decades does not reflect this in the slightest.
Is our situation with politicians perfect? With politicians shooting themselves in the foot nearly every week with either spouts of homophobia, questionable pastimes or simple political ineptness, the answer has to be a resounding “no.”
And prevalent electoral apathy isn’t going to help.
Voting should not just be a right but a responsibility of the American people. Attach fines or some penalties to non-voters, and the voter turnout will undoubtedly skyrocket, though, with today’s lack of civic education, this would take some work to implement.
Mandatory voting is not unprecedented in the world, or even in our own country. Earlier in our country’s history, some states, such as Georgia, Virginia and Missouri, all experimented with the concept. While non-existent in modern America, it is still used in some foreign countries.
One such country is Australia.
With a usual voter turnout of about 95 percent, Australia’s compulsory voting has definitely succeeded. The punishment in Australia is fairly small, yet inconvenient enough to help enforce their policy. Should a voter fail to participate in the vital process of voting, he or she would be fined 20 Australian dollars. Failure to pay this would be transferred to a court, where he or she may be fined an additional 50 plus the costs of having the court deal with it.
This seems far more inconvenient than going out and voting.
However, the system isn’t without its flaws, and there still remains a percentage of the population that has no idea what exactly they’re voting for. Some voters will simply submit a blank ballot, while others would choose something at random to vote for.
It is this area where we would most need to improve should the U.S. ever decide to make voting mandatory. Something resembling a required voting test could be the best way to counteract political ignorance.
Political apathy might be one thing, but I think we can all agree the will of the uneducated is a much greater evil. We dodged a bullet with Sarah Palin. We shouldn’t have to face a similar possibility again.
We have licenses for cars, hunting, fishing and many other trivial everyday things, so why not have a license to vote?
Have citizens participate in a non-partisan class that simply outlines the hot issues of the day every four years or so that ends with a test. Upon passing the test,  voting permits would be given and their votes would be required come election day.
Should people not have acquired said license and are thus unable to vote, they should be required to pay a fine or some other form of punishment. Either minor jail time or a suspension of other licenses could also help deter citizens from continuing to abstain from voting.
By no means would this help solve all of the problems of the current election system. Many Americans would still probably feel their votes don’t matter, and one can argue the two-party dominance in place is the reason for that.
In the fight against the lack of political involvement in our country, however, this would be a good step forward. If voting were required, politicians will be able to spend more time actually talking about their issues instead of trying to convince voters to turn out.
If you don’t like this idea, however, the best way to stop it is to get out and vote on your own. Don’t give the government a reason to enforce something like this.
Zachary Davis is a 19-year-old history sophomore from Warsaw, Poland. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_zdavis.
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Contact Zachary Davis at [email protected]