Eun Hye Jang - Timed writing

Voting system should be mandatory 201104213 Eun Hye Jang     It is believed that voting is a key element of democracy. It is because it reflects the public opinions from minors and majors, the poor and rich and the weak and powerful alike. As all of us cannot directly participate in politics, we ourselves should choose our representatives. It is our right. However, there are so many people who abandon this right. Voting has such a significant meaning that it should be mandatory so that all of us can exercise the right.     We can make people of low-class participate in politics. Because those people are faced with poor condition of everyday life, it is hard for them to pay attention to politics, which leads to low-vote rates in low-class. As politicians are usually interested in only prospective constituents, it is true that usually policies are made for middle and high-classes who care about politics. If voting beame mandatory, politicians would make policies for all the classes of constituents. Then we could have more balanced policies.     We can achieve a high turnout of voters. Statistics shows that in Korea an average turnout is 56.2% and it is the bottom 26 out of 30 OECD countries. Then, why is a turnout important? A low turnout lacks legitimacy because it does not reflect the will of many people. So far from realizing democracy, it can threaten an existence of democracy itself because it does reflect only the will of only the people who vote, which can mean a kind of dictatorship.     Vote is not a duty but a right. Some say that because we are living in a democratic country, things which are not duties must not be forced to be done. As we have a right not to do what we do not want to do in a democratic country, forcing to vote is illegal. However, if we all participated in voting, we could make all of our voices be listened, which would make a nation for everyone. Then we could realize a real democracy.     Australia is a democratic country, voting is a mandatory, and so its average turnout is 95%. It is said that most of the citizens of Australia are in favor of a mandatory voting. It is because they think it is a voice of all levels of people. Likewise, if we made mandatory voting system into a law, we would realize real democracy.