By Meghan Kennedy, Contributing Writer
In America when we turn 18 years of age, we have the right to vote. Even though we have the right to vote, it does not mean that everyone does vote. This goes on to raise the question: Should voting be mandatory in the United States?
America is built upon freedom and the right to make our own decisions; therefore, if
someone does not want to vote, it is their constitutional right to not vote. This is protected within the First Amendment’s freedom of speech because casting a ballot is considered taking part in free speech. Thus, forcing citizens to vote can be seen as compelled speech if they chose not to participate.
Not only is it unconstitutional to force Americans to vote, but also it would cause the polls to be filled with votes from uninformed voters. Although there are Americans who are informed on the issues at hand, there are also many Americans who pay no attention to any of it.
It could come down to a lot of people just randomly choosing names off a ballot. This helps no one when our rights, laws, and the state of our country are at risk.
Mandatory voting also forces people to vote when they may not even like any of the candidates that are running for the election. Americans should not be forced to vote when they may not agree with any of the ideas these politicians have to offer.
Overall, it would ruin the purpose of having an election because it would truly just be a guessing game in the end. Elections are held for us to intellectually choose people to represent us as a whole and forcing this onto individuals will ruin the purpose of elections.
As Joseph Cillo, professor of criminal justice stated, “We shouldn’t be forced to be a part of the election, that is a choice we are entitled to make.”
