Assignment Task:
Only about 60 percent of eligible voters-roughly 139 million Americans-cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, including just 46 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds. While 53 percent of the voting-age population voted in the 2018 midterm elections-a record high for midterm turnout-millions of eligible voters still stayed home on Election Day.
Many people say that requiring citizens to vote would let more Americans' voices be heard. (Voting is currently compulsory, or mandatory, in about 25 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, and Peru.) Plus, supporters of that idea say, voting is one of our civic responsibilities.
But other people argue that forcing citizens to cast ballots would be un-American. They say that a better way to address low voter turnout would be to make it easier for people to register to vote or have Election Day on a weekend instead of a Tuesday.
Should voting be mandatory in the United States?