

Ask YC:  Would compulsory voting in blocks force voters to think carefully about their vote? - amichail

The problem to be solved is that people don't have an incentive to vote nor think carefully about their choice if they do vote.<p>My solution is compulsory voting in blocks.<p>By voting in blocks, I mean that for you to be able to vote for X, you need to convince a certain number of people to also vote X.<p>By compulsory, I mean that you have to enter a valid vote satisfying the minimum requirement<p>Note that entering a "no vote" is possible but would require that you also convince a certain number of people to cast a "no vote".
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xirium
As you've considered, compulsory voting on its own doesn't solve the problem
of disenfranchised voters. In Australia, I believe that they have compulsory
voting and preference voting. So, people who are forced to vote will choose
candidates in the order that they appear on identically printed paper ballots.
This leads to the derisory comment that a politician listed at the top may
have obtained office with a "donkey vote". It has also led to the election of
dead candidates.

I believe that compulsory voting with a "none of the above" choice does exist.
I'd be in favour of wider adoption. However, politicians have little incentive
to change a system which was favourable to them and voters would rather see
more important issues being tackled.

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amichail
Reddit discussion here:

<http://reddit.com/info/69efs/comments/>

