Democracy And Voter Incentives 

An Introduction

In 1876, about 81.8 percent of eligible voters voted in presidential election in United States. That number reduced to 57.5 percent in 2012 presidential election. Besides numerous campaigns and bombarded political ads, American voter turnout is on average about sixty percent standing at 120th in the world while voter turnout in Australia is about ninety-five percent standing first in the rank. Why is this big gap?

While voting is important civic duty, there are many steps one need to take in order to accomplish this important civic duty successfully. Fist, one need to be well informed about the options available by having information about the candidates and polices. Second, generally one needs to register in order to vote in the United States. Third, the voter actually needs to get into the voting place and cast the ballet. According to the US Census Bureau, about 30 million Americans who are eligible to register and vote were not registered on the 2008 presidential election. That figure is more than a population of any state in United States except that of California. About fifty percent of these unregistered said, they not interested in getting registered and vote while six percent did not know how to register; four percent claimed their vote would not make any difference any way.

Some of these reasons are not available to the Australian voters. Voting in Australian is compulsory which means it is mandatory. Voters in Australia either must explain why they couldn’t vote noting valid reasons or pay a fine. That is probably why about ninety five percent of eligible voters in Australia cast their vote in Election Day. Another reason that is different from that of United States is that, Australians vote on Saturday. Saturday seems more convenient for many voters since more people are off in Saturdays than Tuesdays. Most Americans might be finding Tuesday less convenient since it is not only a workday but also a school day. Parents drop their children in the morning and pick them up late afternoon from school. Getting to voting place after work or before work seems to conflict with getting children to and from school, and it seems not too convenient and reflects on their voting record. As a result, the United States still ranks incredibly low (pdf).

Many argue that Election Day should be a national holiday for citizens to participate in their civic duties. Others not so optimistic about increasing voter turnout by making election day a federal holiday noting that most nonvoters are uninformed and will not vote any way, like those thirty million who have no idea how to register. Second argument is that there is voting by mail which one can vote by mail with little or no inconvenience; third argument is most states allow early voting and not voting is nothing to do with inconvenience because of Election Day being on weekdays. Another approach is making Election Day Saturday or Sunday. This might make a lot of sense; first, majority of people are off on weekend and the other thing is, Americans are generous enough to volunteer and help their community in voting process that could cut waiting time on line for voters sine some voters can’t stand waiting in long line. What is your voting experience? Did you experience any inconvenience for voting on Tuesday?