Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by felanthropop 4973 days ago
Everything sounded great up to this point: "There are however two glaring problems (IMHO): 1. Voting is optional;"

When people have to vote, they will vote for things they are undecided on and it is likely that stupid things will play into the decision, like what the name looks like and whether it seems familiar. It doesn't make them any more likely to be informed about the candidates.

And if they have been "informed" about the candidates, the most likely corruptive force is our news media, which is biased (on both sides). Each radio and television station provides a "range of views" that on average lean toward their candidate or are carefully edited. If you can't trust the media to be unbiased (not that they ever were), who can you trust to give you the "real" scoop on the candidates? No one that I know of.

If people don't care enough to vote, they don't have a strong enough opinion on how things are going, then leave them alone. I don't want them choosing pretty names, and it is already bad enough that our views are so manipulated.

At least those that choose to vote are probably somewhat swayed by how well the government is doing, and how it is treating them and those they care about. Those that would be forced to vote aren't, or it is an even draw.

All of that said, I admit that I am an "undecided voter". I lean conservative, but I don't know who to vote for because I disagree strongly to some of the views of the conservatives. So, I might not vote this election, and I still care about the outcome.
1 comments
Joeri 4973 days ago
You're finding issues where none need exist. My country has mandatory appearance, but not mandatory voting. If you are undecided you can leave your ballot empty, but you have to come to the voting booth regardless.

But even with mandatory voting you could argue that it is a fairer representation even if it forces people who don't care to choose a side. Democracy is about trying to capture what te people want, and "the people" means everyone, not just those who care. Idiots have equal voice to nobel prize winners, that's the democratic way.

FPTP is the real problem though. You could keep optional voting but just switch to pretty much any other vote tallying system and get better leaders. FPTP is mathematically guaranteed to bring out the worst in politicians.

link