(csmonitor.com) - On Wednesday during a town hall meeting in Cleveland, Ohio President Barack Obama floated the idea of making voting in America compulsory. The deputy secretary of State for New Hampshire, the front-line state for presidential elections, doesn't endorse the concept.
Mr. Obama suggested compulsory voting in the context of speaking about ways to counteract the role of money in politics.
"It would be transformative if everybody voted," Obama said.
"That would counteract money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country, because the people who tend not to vote are young; they're lower income; they're skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups; and they're often the folks who are – they're scratching and climbing to get into the middle class. And they're working hard, and there’s a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls. We should want to get them into the polls."
[Update: On Thursday afternoon, White House press secretary Josh Earnest issued this statement about mandatory voting: “The president was not making a specific policy prescription for the United States,” reported the Washington Times. ]
The state with the motto “Live free or die,” where all eyes turn during the presidential primaries, would be on the front lines for implementation of any such plan. But to New Hampshire’s Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan voting is “a right to be exercised, but not forced.”
“Personally, I don’t agree with that idea [compulsory voting] at all,” Mr. Scanlan says. “In a perfect world everyone would vote because it’s so important. I believe every state should strive to generate maximum voter turnout but stop short of forcing people to vote.” Read the Rest HERE
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