If we didn't have mandatory voting here we'd have turnout levels in the 60s. It's not like these are awesome super people that are better and nicer than everyone else but the law has created these norms around civic duty and responsibility. I think it could work very well in the States and it would solve so many of the problems you're having there to be honest your problems will be solved if minorities voted if the poor voted. Not all problems can be solved by voting who we're kidding but a lot of problems would be at least ameliorated if everybody voted.
Midterm elections are a tough sell in the United States. Half of eligible voters show up in a good year. On Election Day, we’re revisiting an episode about how things work down under, where “sausage sizzles” and “bathers” make mandatory voting feel like a party.
This episode was originally produced by Noam Hassenfeld and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. It was updated by Amina Al-Sadi with help from Efim Shapiro and Matt Collette. New reporting by Amanda Lewellyn, Miles Bryan, Laura Bullard, and Hady Mawajdeh.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices