Elections and Proper Representation Essay

Submitted By Jotk4G
Words: 1374
Pages: 6
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Aff:
I affirm the resolution: “In a democracy, Voting ought to be compulsory”
Def: (Merriam Webster)
Democracy- government by the people; especially : rule of the majority
Voting: the official choice that you make in an election, meeting, etc., by casting a ballot, raising your hand, speaking your choice aloud, etc.
Ought- suggesting what should take place
Compulsory- Required by law

CV: Proper representation, the foundation of a democracy rests on the people. The people we elect are the people that go to higher authority and express opinions for the majority. When not all citizens vote, a representative cannot be truly representing the people.That is why proper representation is crucial, our elected citizens are the ones who make decisions in the government, these decisions are impactful. A 100% opinion cannot be assumed from only 57% population. Therefore over this case I will discuss how affirming this resolution results in Proper Representation. Elections are what keeps governments running and without it a democracy is not functioning to its maximum ability.

VC: Accuracy, the accuracy of how we analyze the votes are directly linked to who wins and who represents us. Any error can drastically change the outcomes of the decisions in the government. Non-mandatory voting itself is a huge error in analyzing data. The winner is supposed to be for the majority, when the majority is not voting, that winner cannot be the true majorities choice. If the candidate is supposed to represent most of the American population, but only 58% vote, so how can we assume majority when little over half people vote. Certain circumstances take place where a passionate voter cannot register or reach a poll and no one cares because most people think that if one person cannot vote it doesn’t matter. But one person is a small error in data. According to Statistic Brain 78 million citizens do not vote. When around 78 million don’t vote, that creates a huge error gap. That is why voter turnout and accuracy is crucial to proper representation.

Contention1 comp. voting will Encourage voters to be informed if in a democracy, voting was ought to be compulsory, then all the citizens that are not educated in politics will be better informed. In the 2012 elections, the voter turnout was 58.7% of the United States population according to elections.gmu. This shows that a large percent of the population does not vote in elections. Mandatory voting will immensely increase voter turnout. Voter turnout is the percentage of people that vote in elections. If 41.3% do not vote in elections, they are either uninformed, cannot access transportation, or have no interest. Compulsory voting will encourage these citizens to inform themselves and also to vote. The more people vote, accuracy will increase, because many citizen’s political opinions will be casted. This will result in accurate elections leading to proper representation. If proper representation is upheld then the democracy will be better efficient.

Contention2 Protest votes or Blank votes will eliminate random voting. As I had stated before a democracy is a government by the people; especially: rule of the majority. If the majority is not voting, then our democracy cannot function at its maximum ability. If our democracy is not functioning at its max. ability, then proper representation also cannot be upheld. When all citizens vote, the citizens are getting their opinions heard. Whether the voters are neutral or extreme party supporters. Voter turnout is crucial and representatives will hear the opinions of all people. Michael Webb, an expert on the topic, said “To state the obvious, the basic principles of keeping democracy healthy and effective are, first, that democracies work best when every citizen participates, and second that all citizens must be fully informed and fully invested in seeing peace and prosperity in the society overall.”. Many citizens state that voters will randomly choose, but
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