Online: | |
Visits: | |
Stories: |
Story Views | |
Now: | |
Last Hour: | |
Last 24 Hours: | |
Total: |
TOP INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING AND ONLINE JOURNALISM AWARDS
BEST BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT REPORTING
Representative Gene Ward (R-Hawaii Kai – Kalama Valley) today introduced legislation to increase voter turnout in the state of Hawaii, which in the last election was the lowest in the nation.
“We’ve slipped to such a low-level of voter turn-out that only about 32% of eligible voters determine who our leaders will be. It may just be time to go “down under” for some lessons from Australia where you are fined for not voting; in my bill it will cost you $100 to skip your vote on election day,“ Ward explained.
Voting has been compulsory in Australia since 1912 and appears to have reached about 94% voter turn-out in most elections. For Americans the Australian model has been rather controversial; major arguments for and against compulsory voting are:
ADVANTAGES OF MANDATORY VOTING:
DISADVANTAGES OF MANDATORY VOTING:
In Ward’s proposed legislation, people who fail to vote are given the opportunity to be excused from voting and not be fined $100 for not voting.
“My intent is to get Hawaii back into the voting booth and is the primary reason I’m taking this Australian model into our legislature for discussion,” Ward concluded.
Use Facebook to Comment on this Post